Future Cities and Their Downtowns: Urban Studies and Planning

Dear Colleagues,

Cities, and especially their centres, are facing unprecedented pressures. Changing patterns of behaviour in work, retail and leisure as well the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) are challenging traditional approaches to managing urban adaptation and regeneration.  

The recent pandemic has highlighted the need to better understand and manage the relationships between buildings and the physical fabric of cities and public spaces, and between office and home spaces. The 4IR represents a fundamental change in the way we live, work and relate to one another (World Economic Forum, 2023), transforming not only the ways in which things are made but also the space in which business operates. 

Urban planning and policy responses such as the 15-minute city and support for more agile working in turn add new challenges to the future of city centres and urban systems, risking hollowing out the downtown space. 

To engage with and understanding the impact of such rapid transformations in cities and their cores as they respond to such complex challenges, there is a greater need for new cross-disciplinary collaboration and integration. There is an even greater need for inter-disciplinary collaboration with those involved in urban studies and urban design, working together with property developers and construction professionals to plan and manage more resilient and regenerative cities and to mitigate and adapt to the effect of these changes in response.

This Special Issue seeks robust and original research on the future of cities and their downtowns. Contributions are welcome on any relevant topic and disciplinary perspective, specifically focused on the city centre or on the relationships between the core and the wider urban system. Papers exploring responses in city centres to change, such as the adaptation and repurposing of buildings, and the connections between buildings and public spaces are particularly welcome, as are studies considering policy and regulation. Such themes could include smart cities and digital construction, zero-carbon city centres and buildings, the futureproofing of downtowns, repurposing and lifecycle perspectives for buildings and spaces, governance and funding, as well as planning, spatial equity, inclusiveness and fair transitions. 

Dr. Robert Rogerson
Prof. Dr. Bob Giddings
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. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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.

• city centre
• transformation
• urban planning
• public space
• repurposing
• adaptation