Evolution of Urban Spatial Structure

Call for Papers – Evolution of Urban Spatial Structure

Journal: Cities
Publisher: Elsevier
Journal metrics: Impact Factor 6.6, CiteScore 10.9

Submission deadline: 31 August 2027

This special issue examines the evolution of urban spatial structures and their implications for sustainable urban planning and governance. As more than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, understanding how cities grow, shrink, and reorganise—through processes such as urbanisation, suburbanisation, de‑urbanisation, and re‑urbanisation—is essential for improving infrastructure, land use, resource efficiency, and environmental outcomes. The SI builds on classical models (e.g., Hall, 1971; Van den Berg et al., 1982) while extending them to non‑European contexts, shrinking cities, and emerging technological and policy drivers.

Why this issue matters

• Classic theories of urban spatial cycles were developed largely from European experiences, yet cities in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and other regions follow distinct trajectories shaped by institutional, economic, and cultural specificities.

• Many cities are now entering de‑urbanisation or shrinking‑city phases, where population and economic activity decline, creating new challenges for land‑use, infrastructure, and social‑equity planning.

• External shocks such as the COVID‑19 pandemic, government interventions, and rapid advances in information and communication technology (ICT) and AI are reshaping commuting patterns, housing preferences, and urban form, requiring updated governance and policy responses.

• Beyond population distribution, the spatial pattern of employment and its interaction with residential locations has become central to debates on congestion, accessibility, and social inclusion.

Key themes and research directions

The SI welcomes empirical, theoretical, and review papers that advance understanding of urban spatial evolution, its drivers, and its consequences. Priority is given to long‑term, comparative, and multi‑scale analyses.

Suggested topics include:

• Emerging trends and long‑term spatial cycles of cities

  • Urban‑spatial‑evolution trajectories within and beyond Europe, including fast‑growing and post‑industrial cities.

  • Long‑term panel or case‑study evidence on the four‑stage model (urbanisation → suburbanisation → de‑urbanisation → re‑urbanisation) and its relevance today.

• Heterogeneity across city types

  • Differences in spatial evolution between capital cities vs. regional centres, global cities vs. secondary cities, and industrial vs. post‑industrial cities.

  • How path dependency, institutional settings, and agglomeration economies shape divergent urban forms.

• De‑urbanisation and shrinking cities

  • Causal mechanisms behind population decline, economic restructuring, and spatial hollowing‑out.

  • Policy responses to shrinking cities, including land‑banking, compact‑city strategies, and adaptive reuse of infrastructure.

• Exogenous forces shaping urban spatial structure

  • Impact of COVID‑19, teleworking, e‑commerce, AI‑driven automation, and digital‑platform economies on urban density, commuting, and neighbourhood vitality.

  • Effects of government planning, tax policies, infrastructure investments, and housing regulations on spatial patterns.

• Urban employment and spatial structure

  • How the spatial distribution of employment centres interacts with residential location choices and commuting behaviour.

  • Polycentricity, job‑housing balance, and the role of transport infrastructure in shaping urban form.

• Morphological change and urban‑form outcomes

  • Whether decentralisation manifests as low‑density sprawl or polycentric, mixed‑use structures and the implications for carbon emissions, resource efficiency, and social equity.

  • Relationships between urban form (density, connectivity, land‑use mix) and economic performance, public‑health outcomes, and livability.

Submissions may adopt quantitative, qualitative, mixed‑methods, or GIS/remote‑sensing approaches, and are encouraged to link spatial analysis with policy implications for sustainable urban governance.

Guest editors

• Prof. Bindong Sun, Zhejiang University, China

• Dr. Evert Meijers, Utrecht University, Netherlands

• Prof. Yan Song, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA

• Prof. Luca Salvati, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

• Prof. Miquel‑Angel Garcia‑Lopez, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain

For topic‑fit inquiries, contact: Prof. Bindong Sun at bdsun@zju.edu.cn

Submission details

• Submission portal: Editorial Manager for Cities:
  https://www.editorialmanager.com/jcit

• During submission, select article type: “VSI: Evolution of urban spatial structure”.

• Submission deadline: 31 August 2027 (submissions may be sent at any time before then).

• Both research articles and review articles are welcome.

• All suitable manuscripts undergo peer review and, once accepted, are published in the latest regular issue while being grouped online under the Special Issue banner.

Manuscripts should clearly situate their work within theories of urban spatial evolution and governance, and explicitly discuss implications for sustainable urban development and policy.

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