Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Green Urban Development

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
Published Papers

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2020) | Viewed by 59049

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Derk Jan Stobbelaar

E-Mail
Guest Editor

Department of Delta Areas and Resources, University of Applied Sciences Van Hall Larenstein, NL-6880 GB Velp, The Netherlands
Interests: landscape quality; governance; integral solutions; action research

Ir. Joop H. Spijker

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Wageningen Environmental Research
Interests: urban green; management green; green and health; biomass

Dr. Wim van der Knaap

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Wageningen University, Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning Group
Interests: spatial planning; urban development; multi-dynamics in planning; participation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cities worldwide are growing fast, compromising their surrounding landscapes, and consuming too much of scarce resources. At the same time, due to the changing climate, temperatures in cities are rising and weather extremes have become the new normal. Most (western) cities are facing a worrying loss of biodiversity, and inhabitants are more and more alienated from daily experiences of nature, the environment and food. To be liveable in 30 to 50 years, cities have to face these challenges and it is inevitable that they develop towards liveable green sustainable circular systems

This Special Issue focuses on the transition that this involves: which combination of social and ecological changes should take place and how can we prepare ourselves for these changes? We should be very much aware of the local conditions that enable specific solutions, such as culture, the layout of a city, the quality of an embedding into the surroundings of the city, and existing policies. We are also curious about lessons learned and how they can be implemented elsewhere. Both aspects should be taken into account in contributions to this Special Issue. Papers discussing emerging green practices that address themes like liveability, food production, ecology, heat reduction, water retention, and combine the strengths of the involved stakeholders are very much welcomed. We are, therefore, interested in integrated, sustainable and green solutions for multiple socio-ecological problems in dense situations. In addition, we are interested in whether these practices comply with existing theories of sustainability transition processes?

Prof. Dr. Derk Jan Stobbelaar
Ir. Joop H. Spijker
Dr. Wim van der Knaap
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

green cities
integral solutions
transition theory
social-ecological interaction
climate adaptation

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (10 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

16 pages, 1721 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Transformation towards Green Cities: Key Conditions to Accelerate Change

by Derk Jan Stobbelaar, Wim van der Knaap and Joop Spijker

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6410; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116410 - 24 May 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2632

Abstract

Cities worldwide are growing at unprecedented rates, compromising their surrounding landscapes, and consuming many scarce resources [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Urban Development)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

20 pages, 2582 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Biophilic Agents in Building a Green Resilient City; the Case of Birmingham, UK

by Linda Novosadová and Wim van der Knaap

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5033; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095033 - 30 Apr 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4948

Abstract

The present research offers an exploration into the biophilic approach and the role of its agents in urban planning in questions of building a green, resilient urban environment. Biophilia, the innate need of humans to connect with nature, coined by Edgar O. Wilson in 1984, is a concept that has been used in urban governance through institutions, agents’ behaviours, activities and systems to make the environment nature-inclusive. Therefore, it leads to green, resilient environments and to making cities more sustainable. Due to an increasing population, space within and around cities keeps on being urbanised, replacing natural land cover with concrete surfaces. These changes to land use influence and stress the environment, its components, and consequently impact the overall resilience of the space. To understand the interactions and address the adverse impacts these changes might have, it is necessary to identify and define the environment’s components: the institutions, systems, and agents. This paper exemplifies the biophilic approach through a case study in the city of Birmingham, United Kingdom and its biophilic agents. Using the categorisation of agents, the data obtained through in-situ interviews with local professionals provided details on the agent fabric and their dynamics with the other two environments’ components within the climate resilience framework. The qualitative analysis demonstrates the ways biophilic agents act upon and interact within the environment in the realm of urban planning and influence building a climate-resilient city. Their activities range from small-scale community projects for improving their neighbourhood to public administration programs focusing on regenerating and regreening the city. From individuals advocating for and educating on biophilic approach, to private organisations challenging the business-as-usual regulations, it appeared that in Birmingham the biophilic approach has found its representatives in every agent category. Overall, the activities they perform in the environment define their role in building resilience. Nonetheless, the role of biophilic agents appears to be one of the major challengers to the urban design’s status quo and the business-as-usual of urban governance. Researching the environment, focused on agents and their behaviour and activities based on nature as inspiration in addressing climate change on a city level, is an opposite approach to searching and addressing the negative impacts of human activity on the environment. This focus can provide visibility of the local human activities that enhance resilience, while these are becoming a valuable input to city governance and planning, with the potential of scaling it up to other cities and on to regional, national, and global levels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Urban Development)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

30 pages, 6376 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Greening the City: How to Get Rid of Garden Pavement! The ‘Steenbreek’ Program as a Dutch Example

by Derk Jan Stobbelaar, Wim van der Knaap and Joop Spijker

Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3117; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063117 - 12 Mar 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4866

Abstract

The Steenbreek program is a private Dutch program which aims to involve citizens, municipalities and other stakeholders in replacing pavement with vegetation in private gardens. The Dutch approach is characterized by minimal governmental incentives or policy, which leaves a niche for private initiatives like Steenbreek, that mainly work on behavioural change. The aim of this paper is to build a model based on theory that can be used to improve and better evaluate depaving actions that are based on behavioural change. We tested this garden greening behaviour model in the Steenbreek program. The main result is that the model provides an understanding of the ‘how and why’ of the Steenbreek initiatives. Based on this we are able to provide recommendations for the improvement of future initiatives. Steenbreek covers a wide range of projects that together, in very different ways, take into account elements of the theoretical framework; either more on information factors, or on supporting factors, sometimes taking all elements together in a single action. This focus is sometimes understandable when just one element is needed (e.g., support), sometimes more elements could be taken into account to be more effective. If a certain element of the framework is lacking, the change of behaviour will not (or will only partly) take place. The model also gives insight into a more specific approach aimed at the people most susceptible to changing their behaviour, which would make actions more effective. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Urban Development)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 739 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

How New Food Networks Change the Urban Environment: A Case Study in the Contribution of Sustainable, Regional Food Systems to Green and Healthy Cities

by Noël van Dooren, Brecht Leseman and Suzanne van der Meulen

Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 481; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020481 - 6 Jan 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3022

Abstract

More and more people worldwide live in urban areas, and these areas face many problems, of which a sustainable food provision is one. In this paper we aim to show that a transition towards more sustainable, regionally organized food systems strongly contributes to green, livable cities. The article describes a case study in the Dutch region of Arnhem–Nijmegen. Partners of a network on sustainable food in this region were interviewed on how they expect the food system to develop, and in design studies possible futures are explored. Both the interviews and the designs give support to the idea that indeed sustainable food systems can be developed to contribute to green livable cities. They show that the quality and meaning of existing green areas can be raised; new areas can be added to a public green system, and connections with green surroundings are enforced. They also show that inhabitants or consumers can be stimulated to become so called food citizens, highlighting that the relation of food systems and livable cities is a very close one. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Urban Development)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 2122 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Justice in The Netherlands: Presence and Quality of Greenspace Differ by Socioeconomic Status of Neighbourhoods

by Sjerp de Vries, Arjen E. Buijs and Robbert P. H. Snep

Sustainability 2020, 12(15), 5889; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12155889 - 22 Jul 2020

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 8069

Abstract

Making our cities more sustainable includes the need to make the transition a just one. This paper focuses on distributive justice with regard to greenspace in cities. Urbanisation and densification will likely result in less greenspace in urban residential areas, especially in deprived neighbourhoods. This is a threat to the aim of healthy and liveable cities, as greenspace has positive effects on human health and well-being. In this study, we show that in The Netherlands, neighbourhoods with a low socioeconomic status already tend to have a lower presence and quality of greenspace than those with a high socioeconomic status. This outcome is independent of the greenness metric that was used. However, depending on the precise greenness metric, socioeconomic differences in greenness between neighbourhoods are smaller in highly urban municipalities than in less urban municipalities, rather than larger. The paper discusses the implications of these outcomes for policy and planning regarding urban greenspace. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Urban Development)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 2828 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Student Interventions on Urban Greening Processes

by Derk Jan Stobbelaar

Sustainability 2020, 12(13), 5451; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12135451 - 6 Jul 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2947

Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the contribution of student interventions to urban greening processes. In two Dutch cities action research was conducted, including reflexive interviews a year after the first intervention, to assess factors causing change in the socio-ecological system. Results show that students and network actors were mutually learning, causing the empowerment of actors in that network by adding contextualized knowledge, enlarging the social network, expanding the amount of interactions in the socio-ecological system and speeding up the process. Students brought unique qualities to the process: time, access to stakeholders who tend to distrust the municipality and a certain open-mindedness. Their mere presence made a difference and started a process of change. However, university staff needed to keep the focus on long-term effects and empowerment, because students did not oversee that. After a year, many new green elements had been developed or were in the planning phase. In Enschede, the municipality district managers were part of the learning network, which made it easier to cause changes in the main ecological network. In Haarlem however, no change took place in the main ecological network managed by the municipality, because no political empowerment of the civil society group had developed yet. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Urban Development)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1387 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enabling Relationships with Nature in Cities

by Johan Colding, Matteo Giusti, Andreas Haga, Marita Wallhagen and Stephan Barthel

Sustainability 2020, 12(11), 4394; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114394 - 27 May 2020

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 8736

Abstract

Limited exposure to direct nature experiences is a worrying sign of urbanization, particularly for children. Experiencing nature during childhood shapes aspects of a personal relationship with nature, crucial for sustainable decision-making processes in adulthood. Scholars often stress the need to ‘reconnect’ urban dwellers with nature; however, few elaborate on how this can be achieved. Here, we argue that nature reconnection requires urban ecosystems, with a capacity to enable environmental learning in the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains, i.e., learning that occurs in the head, heart and hands of individuals. Drawing on environmental psychology, urban ecology, institutional analysis and urban planning, we present a theoretical framework for Human–Nature Connection (HNC), discuss the importance of nurturing HNC for children, elaborate on the role of property-rights and the importance of creating collective action arenas in cities for the promotion of urban resilience building. As values and environmental preconceptions underly environmental behavior, there are limits to achieving HNC in cities, as presumptive sentiments toward nature not always are positive. We end by discussing the role of new digital technologies in relation to HNC, and conclude by summarizing the major points brought forward herein, offering policy recommendations for HNC as a resilience strategy that can be adopted in cities throughout the world. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Urban Development)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

35 pages, 3810 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High-Tech Urban Agriculture in Amsterdam: An Actor Network Analysis

by Mohsen H. Farhangi, Margherita E. Turvani, Arnold van der Valk and Gerrit J. Carsjens

Sustainability 2020, 12(10), 3955; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12103955 - 12 May 2020

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 8059

Abstract

The agriculture and horticulture sector in the Netherlands is one of the most productive in the world. Although the sector is one of the most advanced and intense agricultural production systems worldwide, it faces challenges, such as climate change and environmental and social unsustainability of industrial production. To overcome these challenges, alternative food production initiatives have emerged, especially in large cities such as Amsterdam. Some initiatives involve producing food in the urban environment, supported by new technologies and practices, so-called high-tech urban agriculture (HTUA). These initiatives make cultivation of plants inside and on top of buildings possible and increase green spaces in urban areas. The emerging agricultural technologies are creating new business environments that are shape d by technology developers (e.g., suppliers of horticultural light emitting diodes (LED) and control environment systems) and developers of alternative food production practices (e.g., HTUA start-ups). However, research shows that the uptake of these technological innovations in urban planning processes is problematic. Therefore, this research analyzes the barriers that local government planners and HTUA developers are facing in the embedding of HTUA in urban planning processes, using the city of Amsterdam as a case study. This study draws on actor-network theory (ANT) to analyze the interactions between planners, technologies, technology developers and developers of alternative food production practices. Several concepts of ANT are integrated into a multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions (MLP) to create a new theoretical framework that can explain how interactions between technologies and planning actors transform the incumbent social–technical regime. The configuration of interactions between social and material entities in technology development and adoption processes in Amsterdam is analyzed through the lens of this theoretical framework. The data in this study were gathered by tracing actors and their connections by using ethnographic research methods. In the course of the integration of new technologies into urban planning practices, gaps between technologies, technology developers, and planning actors have been identified. The results of this study show a lacking connection between planning actors and technology developers, although planning actors do interact with developers of alternative food production practices. These interactions are influenced by agency of artefacts such as visualizations of the future projects. The paper concludes that for the utilization of emerging technologies for sustainability transition of cities, the existing gap between technology developers and planning actors needs to be bridged through the integration of technology development visions in urban agendas and planning processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Urban Development)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 15609 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Convivial Greenstreets: A Concept for Climate-Responsive Urban Design

by Ken Tamminga, João Cortesão and Michiel Bakx

Sustainability 2020, 12(9), 3790; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093790 - 7 May 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6915

Abstract

This paper presents a conceptual framework for using “convivial greenstreets” (CG) as a resource for climate adaptation. When applied consistently, CG can become an emerging green practice with a positive impact on urban adaptation to climate change: CG may provide localized climate amelioration in ways that support social engagement outdoors. However, as spontaneous phenomena, CG should neither become an academic nor an aesthetic prescriptive tool. How then can CG be used as an active resource for urban adaptation to climate change while avoiding these two potential pitfalls? To explore this question, we present the concept of CG and the ways it can be situated in theoretical urbanism and analogous urban morphologies. We profile the CG inventory corpus and conceptualization that has taken place to date and expand them through a climate-responsive urban design lens. We then discuss how CG and climate-responsive urban design can be brought together while preventing the academization and aestheticizing of the former. This discussion is illustrated with a group of visualizations. We conclude by submitting that climate-responsive urban design and extensive and robust CG practices can co-operate to promote more resilient communities and urban climates. Finally, the conceptual framework herein sets an agenda for future research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Urban Development)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Editorial, Research

23 pages, 278 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Biophobia and Urban Restorativeness

by Agnès Patuano

Sustainability 2020, 12(10), 4312; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12104312 - 25 May 2020

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6459

Abstract

Natural areas are now known to be important resources for the health and wellbeing of urban dwellers, through, for example, the opportunities they provide for cognitive and emotional restoration. However, urban populations have also been found not to engage with these spaces and to display some form of biophobia which may hinder them from perceiving any of these benefits. This concept of biophobia is thought to entail both our innate physiological responses to the perceived danger from non-human threats such as spiders and snakes and our cultural attachment to material comfort. The word is often used with derogatory connotations, even if it is part of an evolutionary mechanism honed over thousands of years to keep humans alive. This review presents the current state of knowledge on urban biophobia as well as evidence of instances in which built and mixed urban environments were found to be more restorative than natural ones for the urban population, in order to assess any connection within the two. A series of recommendations for further research but also for the practical implementation of natural areas in cities capable of attracting a wide variety of people regardless of their fears or preferences are also formulated. Only by investigating the psychological and physiological responses of urban dwellers to their daily environments can we hope to design interventions which will remain relevant for the modern world. Full article

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Green Urban Development

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Published Papers (10 papers)

Editorial

Research

Review

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI