npj Urban Sustainability

A novel vegetation assessment tool for comparing the biodiversity potential of different urban landscaping designs

Casey Visintin — Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

There is a positive correlation between vegetation structure and complexity, and broader biodiversity. However, contemporary urban design often favors monocultural vegetation with little mid- and understorey. Here, we demonstrate a novel tool that enables practitioners to compare the biodiversity potential of different landscaping designs in Australia. The approach is grounded in ecology, specifically focusing on how a design may deliver resources for wildlife, both spatially and temporally. We produce simple scorecards, reporting on eight metrics that measure vegetation structure, diversity and connectivity, and demonstrate the approach for three case studies: 1) a public greenspace; 2) a neighborhood park; and 3) a restored urban native bushland. We anticipate how this tool could interface with existing design software, and how users may control and adapt the scoring system, with the potential to automatically ingest data from external repositories. We envisage this tool supporting design decisions in urban areas and improving biodiversity outcomes.

Detecting global electric consumption patterns from a spatial perspective and analyzing their inequality at different scales

Jinke Liu — Wed, 13 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Electric power resources are crucial for modern society and play an essential role in driving social progress. UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 calls for ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. Achieving equitable energy distribution is both an economic issue and a major challenge concerning social equity and sustainable development. Using spatial downscaling to obtain fine-scale electric power consumption (EPC) distribution for inequality analysis is imperative. This study proposes an E-NPBL framework integrating nighttime light, population density, building volume, and land use to model high-quality EPC spatial datasets. It analyzes EPC inequality from three perspectives: spatial heterogeneity, urban–rural gaps, and its relationship with development and environmental outcomes. Key findings: (1) The EPC grid data achieves high accuracy in state-level validation across the U.S., China, Australia, Brazil, and South Africa (R² = 0.96, RMSE = 2.82E10, MRE = 32.38%). (2) Under rapid urbanization, the urban–rural EPC gap is narrowing in high-income countries but widening in middle- and low-income countries. (3) Inequality in EPC relative to population, GDP, and CO₂ emissions is decreasing over time. This spatial analysis helps policymakers identify energy-disparate regions, crucial for advancing sustainable development.

Urban climate action in the Nationally Determined Contributions: exploring the multilevel climate governance gap

Nicola Tollin — Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study assesses the integration of urban climate action within Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. Analysing 194 updated NDCs, we investigated the level and type of urban-related content, including mitigation and adaptation challenges and responses, and means of implementation. Despite varied levels of urban content across NDCs, overall representation remains insufficient, with one-third of the NDCs having no urban-related content. At the urban level, sectors like energy, transport, and waste receive more attention for mitigation, while infrastructures and water are given more focus for adaptation. Urban climate responses are more frequently mentioned than challenges, with few NDCs identifying dedicated means of implementation. Clear identification of urban challenges, responses, and means of implementation is crucial for assessing the effectiveness and monitoring the progress of climate interventions. This study provides insights useful for integrating multilevel governance and subnational engagement in supporting national climate plans and commitment.

Ecological network planning must address ecosystem disservices in urban environments

Rastegar Hashemi — Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Ecological network planning must address ecosystem disservices in urban environments

Assessing urban thermal comfort: a multi-model analysis of European cities over two decades

Firouz Aghazadeh — Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines changes in summer thermal comfort across 12 European cities in 2000, 2010, and 2020 by integrating multi-source geospatial and demographic data. We introduced the urban eco-climatic livability index (UECLSI), which combines 19 indicators related to climate, urban form, vegetation, and population. Collinearity was tested using the variance inflation factor and tolerance, and principal component analysis was applied for dimensionality reduction. To model spatial patterns, we compared three approaches: (i) geographical Gaussian process regression (GGPR), (ii) multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR), and (iii) Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). Model interpretation was supported by SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP/GeoShapley), while spatial associations were analyzed with GeoDetector, bivariate classification, and spatial standard deviation ellipses. Results reveal a general decline in surface urban heat island (SUHI) intensity over two decades in most cities (e.g., Budapest, Vienna), though some cities (Bratislava, Ljubljana) showed fluctuations. UECLSI was highest in 2000 for Sofia, Bucharest, and Prague, decreased in 2010, and improved again by 2020 in cities such as Bucharest and Belgrade, while Ljubljana recorded the lowest values in 2020. Model evaluation showed that GGPR provided the highest accuracy (R² ≈ 0.99), followed by MGWR, while XGBoost performed the worst. SHAP analyses highlighted a growing role of climatic variables and a declining importance of vegetation indices by 2020. GeoDetector confirmed significant interactive effects between UECLSI and SUHI. Overall, the findings emphasize the importance of city-specific strategies focused on climate adaptation, vegetation planning, and urban form design to mitigate SUHI and improve urban livability.

Can nature-based solutions for climate adaptation promote multispecies justice: insights from European regions

Misagh Mottaghi — Fri, 08 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Previous research underscores the importance of addressing biodiversity loss within environmental justice, introducing the concept of multi-species justice (MSJ) to recognise the rights and agency of non-human species. Despite its theoretical foundation, practical applications of MSJ remain underexplored. This paper contributes to operationalising MSJ in climate adaptation by exploring barriers to addressing justice beyond humans in nature-based solutions (NbS) governance and planning. Through focus-group interviews with policymakers and practitioners across five European regions, this research examines perceptions of justice related to NbS and the integration of care for nature into decision-making. The findings indicate several steps are needed to enable MSJ through NbS. First, viewing NbS as relations and an infrastructure of care, treating climate adaptation as part of a heterogeneous network of concerns. This shift conceptualises NbS as a bridge between humans and nature, addressing shared needs and values. Second, scrutinising the critical junctures where the multiplicity of NbS is overlooked. Third, shifting views, structures, and practices can begin with small, incremental changes that lead over time to larger changes in direction. Fourth, repairing the human-nonhuman system of relations involves identifying entry-points for change within policymaking routines and engaging in a cycle of rethinking, reframing, regenerating, and relearning relationships.

Towards dynamic resilience from static control of urban rainfall-induced pollution: a multi-stress pathway framework for ecological infrastructure

Jiali Li — Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Urban rainfall-induced pollution is an increasingly severe global challenge. Although ecological infrastructure (EI) is widely used, its effectiveness remains uncertain due to the lack of resilience assessment methods. By analyzing 133 sponge city projects and six-year monitoring data from Wuxi’s Binhu District, one of the National Demonstration Sponge Cities in China, we identified three dominant, yet distinct, stress pathways to EI failure: structural limit from volume capture ratio of annual rainfall (VCR), fatigue from consecutive wet days (CWD), and overload from heavy rainfall frequency (R_{P = 60%}). This tripartite mechanism exposes a critical flaw in the prevailing static design paradigm, which primarily addresses single-event rainfall. We therefore propose a Multi-Stress Pathway Resilience Framework that quantifies EI vulnerability across these pathways. Results show that enhancing CWD resistance offers the greatest resilience potential. As CWD and R_{P = 60%} threaten sponge cities across China’s climate zones, we recommend climate-adaptive design, stress adjustment, and dynamic management to advance urban water resilience. This study advocates for a fundamental transition from static control standards to dynamic, pathway-specific resilience management, charting a course for next-generation EI.

Analysing European cities’ climate mission development priorities through their monitoring and learning effort

Julia Kantorovitch — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission is a new initiative aimed at promoting sustainable development across European cities. Supported by the Climate Mission, these cities are tackling climate change by developing and adopting sustainable strategies that also benefit residents. Using data from 112 cities participating in the EU-funded NetZeroCities Mission project, this analysis examines indicators chosen by cities to track urban progress and impacts beyond greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, particularly focusing on Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG11). Additionally, this study provides a scientific perspective by introducing a hybrid AI-assisted method for clustering both standard NetZeroCities framework indicators and unique indicators introduced by cities. This approach reflects established impact assessment practices and incorporates cities’ extensive experience with climate monitoring. By grouping these different types of indicators, the research evaluates whether local monitoring efforts align with or diverge from NetZeroCities Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework priorities and explores what these differences might reveal about how cities put climate measures into practice locally.