Human-Centred Urban Innovation: Empowering People for Resilient and Sustainable Cities

Introduction 

As urban environments undergo rapid transformation in response to climate change, technological advancement, demographic shifts, and resource constraints, the built environment increasingly serves as a critical interface between infrastructure systems and human wellbeing. Beyond physical form, cities are shaped by spatial justice, participatory governance, and the socio-technical dynamics of design, development, and management.

This special issue addresses the growing demand for interdisciplinary and applied research that centres human experience within the context of urban innovation. Aligned with the journal’s mission to examine the societal impacts of urbanisation. Especially in relation to health, education, equity, and inclusion. It foregrounds the role of human-centred approaches in advancing both resilience and sustainability in cities.

Under the theme “Human-Centred Urban Innovation: Empowering People for Resilient and Sustainable Cities,” the issue invites scholarly contributions that critically examine how planning, digital technologies, construction methods, and urban policy can be deployed to improve quality of life, reduce systemic inequities, and enhance adaptive capacity within diverse urban contexts. We seek original research, methodological innovations, and case-based analyses that illustrate how inclusive design, co-production, and community-led development are operationalised in practice. Special consideration will be given to work addressing underserved populations, indigenous and local knowledge systems, and the governance structures that enable (or constrain) human-centred innovation in the built environment.

List of topic areas

• Human-centred urban design and planning frameworks that integrate behavioural insights, lived experiences, and inclusive spatial strategies.
• Equity-focused approaches to housing, mobility, and infrastructure that address disparities in access, affordability, and service delivery.
• Urban health and wellbeing: built environment influences on mental health, physical activity, and environmental exposures.
• Participatory governance and community co-design in planning, development, and regeneration projects.
• Inclusive digital technologies and smart urban systems supporting accessibility, equity, and responsive service delivery.
• Indigenous knowledge systems and place-based sustainability in urban planning, design, and construction practices.
• Social and cultural dimensions of urban resilience, including identity, belonging, and adaptive capacity in diverse communities.
• Workforce development and skills equity in the construction sector, including pathways for marginalised populations.
• Gender, migration, and socio-spatial justice: analysing intersectional inequalities in urban space production and use.
• Education, training, and vocational pathways that foster sustainable, people-oriented urban development and innovation.

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to “Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else while under review for this journal.

Key deadlines

Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31/05/2026

Email for submissions: [email protected]