Special Issue on "Sustainable Neighbourhoods: Planning Policies and Measures for Mobility in Future Urban Living"

Future urban living implies pleasant neighbourhoods with easy universal access to daily needs, well integrated into city structure and well connected with robust city networks. Moreover, it is fundamental to promote activity-based accessibility and multimodal approaches with a focus on sustainable and active transport modes, either individual or collective, minimizing vulnerability to make those neighbourhoods inclusive. This promotion easily relates to different Sustainable Development Goals, focusing on Goals 3, 5, 7, 11 and 13, reinforcing its multidisciplinary nature. So, for the specific approach for this particular issue, Goal 11 plays the central role (cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable) and is strongly related to goals 3 and 5 (respectively, Good Health and Well-Being and Gender Equality) and a lesser extent, related with goals 7 and 13 (respectively Affordable and Clean Energy and Climate Action). New approaches are needed to integrate these quantitative and qualitative or conceptual relations, which are essential to support the analysis of present situations and forecast future solutions.

The special issue will consider how these issues appear in discussions, focusing on the multidisciplinary dimension of the problems and their solutions. It will bring findings and highlights and some empirical applications and case studies. Therefore, this particular issue challenge presents a broad range of discussions that, individually, in each paper, explore a specific discussion and, altogether, represent the main issues and guidelines to provide sustainable neighbourhoods. To highlight the broad - although focused - range of themes, the following list was built to show relevant, although not exclusive, topics:

+ Urban spatial structure planning

+ Land use planning (including green and open spaces)

+ Network robustness optimization

+ Urban design for sustainable mobility

+ Neighbourhood accessibility evaluation and promotion

+ Activity-based accessibility evaluation and promotion

+ Mobility hubs promotion and implementation

+ Multimodal transportation planning

+ Urban public/collective transport equity and quality guarantee

+ Active modes promotion

+ Travel behaviour and mobility surveys

+ Social inclusivity, vulnerability and safety

+ Public health and well-being

+ Human-scale cities achievements and sustainability

+ Innovative data-driven analysis

These topics are explored via several academic fields, including economics, engineering, geography, sociology, and their interdisciplinarities. This approach allows for a more holistic and effective response to the complex issues arising from sustainable neighbourhood promotion. Therefore, this special issue fills the knowledge gap between academics and practical urban planning and policy. Research demonstrating methodological innovation and increased relevance to decision-making will be prior. Additionally, articles that employ robust methodologies and provide a compelling rationale for proposed policies will be highly valued.

Deadlines:

30 April 2024: Paper Submission Deadline

31 August 2024: End of the Refereeing Process

30 November 2024: Delivery of the Revised Papers

early 2025: publication of articles and issue