Heat Resilience and Health Equity in Urban Systems: Advances in Microclimate Design, Predictive Analytics, and Adaptive Governance

CALL FOR PAPERS

Heat Resilience and Health Equity in Urban Systems: Advances in Microclimate Design, Predictive Analytics, and Adaptive Governance

Journal: Sustainable Cities and Society

Publisher: Elsevier

Submission Opens: 16 March 2026

Submission Deadline: 16 March 2027

Introduction

The escalating frequency and intensity of extreme heat events — amplified by urban heat island dynamics — poses a critical challenge to sustainable urbanization. Unlike discrete climate hazards, thermal stress manifests through chronic, diffuse exposure pathways embedded within cities' morphological and material fabric. This necessitates a paradigm shift: reconceptualizing the built environment as an active, adaptive system mediating human-climate interactions.

Current research frontiers reveal three critical gaps:

First, while the biophysical mechanisms of urban heat are well documented, translating microclimate knowledge into actionable design protocols remains fragmented.

Second, the emergence of digital twin technologies and AI-driven predictive modeling offers unprecedented opportunities for real-time adaptive management — yet their integration with public health frameworks is nascent.

Third, the justice and equity dimensions of thermal resilience — how heat risks are socially produced and spatially distributed — demand more sophisticated analytical approaches that bridge epidemiology, urban analytics, and environmental justice.

Scope & Significance

This Special Issue situates itself at the intersection of urban microclimate engineering, digital health geographies, and climate governance. It advances theoretical frameworks conceptualizing thermal resilience as a socio-technical property of urban systems — while delivering methodologies scalable across diverse climatic and institutional contexts.

By synthesizing advances in biometeorological modeling, IoT sensing infrastructures, and participatory governance, this Special Issue establishes a research agenda for health-protective urbanism.

The editors invite original research and reviews advancing theory, methods, and practice — prioritizing contributions demonstrating methodological innovation, cross-contextual applicability, and explicit equity implications.

Four Core Thematic Areas

Theme 1 — Microclimate Design Science

Implementation of landscape-based cooling strategies to establish quantifiable, transferable relationships between spatial configurations and thermal outcomes.

Theme 2 — Digital Twins and Predictive Health Geographies

Integration of IoT networks, remote sensing, and machine learning for dynamic exposure assessment and real-time adaptive management.

Theme 3 — Nature-Based Solutions as Hybrid Infrastructure

Optimization of green-blue-gray networks addressing multifunctionality trade-offs and long-term adaptive capacity.

Theme 4 — Equity-Centered Implementation Science

Critical analyses of policy instruments and governance structures enabling equitable scaling of heat resilience interventions.

List of Topic Areas

Manuscripts are invited on themes including, but not limited to:

1. Urban heat island dynamics and extreme heat event modeling

2. Microclimate design protocols — spatial configurations and thermal outcomes

3. Biometeorological modeling for urban thermal resilience

4. Digital twin technologies for urban heat management

5. AI-driven predictive modeling and real-time adaptive management

6. IoT sensing infrastructures for dynamic heat exposure assessment

7. Integration of digital health geographies with public health frameworks

8. Nature-based solutions — green, blue, and gray infrastructure optimization

9. Green-blue-gray network design for multifunctional urban cooling

10. Environmental justice and equity dimensions of urban heat risk

11. Social production and spatial distribution of thermal stress

12. Participatory governance for climate-resilient urban systems

13. Policy instruments for equitable scaling of heat resilience interventions

14. Cross-contextual and comparative urban heat resilience studies

15. Health-protective urbanism — bridging epidemiology and urban design

Guest Editors

Prof. Bo Hong (Leading Guest Editor) Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China (For inquiries about contribution topics, contact Prof. Bo Hong)

Prof. Pablo Fernández de Arróyabe Hernáez University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain

Prof. Andreas Matzarakis University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Prof. Ayyoob Sharifi Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan

Dr. Gongbo Chen Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Key Deadlines

📅 Manuscript Submission Opens: 16 March 2026 ⏰ Manuscript Submission Deadline: 16 March 2027

Submission Guidelines

Submissions are made through Editorial Manager, the official online submission system for Sustainable Cities and Society.

When submitting, select Article Type: "VSI: SCS_Heat Resilience & Health Equity" (Please select this item when submitting manuscripts online.)

All manuscripts will undergo peer review and will be evaluated based on:

• Originality

• Significance

• Technical quality

• Clarity

Once accepted, articles will be posted online immediately and published in a journal regular issue within weeks. Articles will also be simultaneously collected in the online special issue.

⚠️ All submissions must be original and must not be under review elsewhere at the time of submission.

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