City+2026@Mytilene: Improving Liveability for Urban and Rural Settings – Introducing Special Sessions

City+2026@Mytilene: The 9th International Conference on Interdisciplinary Urban Studies

Improving Liveability for Urban and Rural Settings

July 2^nd – 5^th 2026

School of Geography, University of the Aegean

Mytilene, Lesvos, Greece

Introducing Special Sessions

1 AI-Empowered Urban Renewal and Regeneration

Scope: 

Rapid urbanisation, demographic shifts, and structural transformations have placed unprecedented pressures on existing urban districts, many of which face challenges such as ageing infrastructure, inefficient land use, declining vitality, social disparities, and environmental stress. Urban renewal and regeneration—moving beyond traditional demolition-and-redevelopment models—have increasingly emphasised sustainable spatial reorganisation, human-centred environments, and data-driven governance.

Meanwhile, advances in artificial intelligence (AI), sensing technologies, cloud computing, and spatial data infrastructures are fundamentally reshaping how cities diagnose problems, simulate interventions, and co-create future urban spaces with their communities. AI now enables multi-source data fusion, automated spatial diagnostics, predictive modelling of urban vitality, generative design for urban form, and intelligent evaluation frameworks that support more precise, inclusive, and adaptive urban renewal strategies.

This session invites interdisciplinary contributions that explore how AI technologies—ranging from machine learning and computer vision to digital twins, generative design models, and urban simulation techniques—can transform the theories, methods, and practices of urban renewal. We welcome theoretical explorations, empirical studies, technological innovations, and policy-oriented research that examine how AI enhances the sustainability, resilience, and livability of existing urban districts.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

▪ AI-driven diagnosis of urban spatial problems and decline patterns

▪ Machine learning for predicting urban vitality, mobility, and environmental performance

▪ Multi-source urban data fusion (e.g., street view imagery, IoT sensors, remote sensing, socio-economic data)

▪ Digital twins and dynamic simulation models for renewal strategies

▪ Generative AI in redesigning urban blocks, open spaces, and streetscapes

▪ Intelligent evaluation systems for neighbourhood livability, equity, and resilience

▪ Data-supported co-creation and participatory planning for community-based regeneration

▪ AI-enabled conservation and adaptive reuse of historical or industrial areas

▪ Ethical, social, and governance implications of AI-mediated urban renewal

By bringing together scholars, planners, technologists, designers, and policymakers, this session aims to advance an integrated understanding of how artificial intelligence can empower urban regeneration in ways that enhance spatial quality, promote social equity, and support sustainable and human-centred urban futures.

Session Chair:

1. Paolo Vincenzo Genovese, Professor, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, China.E-mail: Pavic@zju.edu.cn
2. Yafei Zhao, Professor, Qingdao Huanghai University, China. E-mail: zhaoyf@qdhhc.edu.cn
3. Zhixing Li, Lecturer, School of Design and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Technology, China. E-mail: zxlee910@zjut.edu.cn
4. Rong Xia, PhD Candidate, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, China. E-mail:sharon.xia@zju.edu.cn
5. Yunshan Wan, PhD Candidate, College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University, China. E-mail:12412024@zju.edu.cn
6. Xiaozhen Li, PhD Candidate, Technical University of Munich, Germany. E-mail: xiaozhen.l.c@gmail.com

2 Building Liveable, Healthy, and Happy Cities

Scope:

Optimising human settlements to enhance people’s health and well-being is crucial for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. This session aims to promote the development of healthier, more sustainable, and higher-quality cities. It invites scholars to share their research on: 1) assessing liveable, healthy, and happy urban environments, including the natural, built, dietary, and social environments; 2) the impacts of urban environments on liveability and citizens’ health and well-being; 3) case studies on designing liveable, healthy, and happy cities; and 4) other relevant topics.

Session Chair:

1. Chun Yin, Associate Professor, School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University. E-mail: chun.yin1@outlook.com

3 Coastal Cities and Regions

Scope:

Coastal cities and regions constitute critical nodes in global economic networks and international trade, yet they also represent some of the most climate-exposed and environmentally fragile territories worldwide. Intensifying sea-level rise, recurrent flooding, and the degradation of coastal and marine ecosystems pose escalating threats to their socio-economic stability, ecological integrity, cultural and historical heritage, and long-term development capacity. Addressing these intertwined challenges requires anticipatory and adaptive strategies that safeguard economic vitality while advancing social equity, cultural preservation, and environmental sustainability. Such strategies must account for complex interactions among infrastructure systems, demographic dynamics, governance arrangements, and investment decisions that shape the future of coastal urban regions.

This session seeks to foster scholarly dialogue on how climate adaptation, urban planning, and governance innovation can support the sustainable socio-economic development of coastal cities and regions. We invite theoretical, empirical, and modelling contributions that examine adaptive governance and investment, climate resilience, urban spatial planning, policy and management innovation, marine environmental protection, and cultural heritage conservation. We also value perspectives and case studies from low- and middle-income countries, where rapid urbanisation and limited adaptive capacity compound coastal vulnerability. Through these contributions, the session aims to advance understanding of how coastal cities can navigate transformative pathways toward resilience, inclusivity, and sustainability in the face of accelerating climate change.

Publication opportunity: This special session is supported by the journal Marine Development (Springer), which has a special issue on “Climate Adaptation and Urban Resilience in Coastal Cities”. Relevant papers have the opportunity to be considered for publication in this special issue.

Session Chair:

1. Longwu Liang, Research Fellow, University College London. E-mail:  longwu.liang@ucl.ac.uk
2. Lei Wang, Professor, Ocean University of China. E-mail: leiwang@ouc.edu.cn

4 From Ruins to Routes: Intelligent and Immersive Design in Historical Contexts

Scope:

Cities rich in heritage embody not only the physical remnants of the past but also evolving ways of thinking and making. This session explores how artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) can jointly transform our engagement with historical urban environments by turning ruins—the material traces of memory— into routes: the spatial paths through which people move and sense the city, as well as the methodological paths through which designers and researchers reimagine and reshape it.

We invite papers that examine how data-driven intelligence and immersive visualisation can help reimagine the relationship between heritage, mobility, and human experience. 

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

▪      AI-driven analysis of walkability, accessibility, and mobility in heritage contexts

▪      Generative and participatory design of historical urban spaces using AI or AR

▪      AR/VR-supported storytelling and experiential mapping of cultural heritage

▪      Digital twins and human-centred simulations for living heritage environments

▪      Sensor-based mapping of comfort, emotion, and vitality along pedestrian routes

▪      Ethical, social, and cultural implications of intelligent systems in heritage mediation

The session aims to bring together designers, urbanists, technologists, and heritage scholars to envision how intelligent and immersive methods can revitalise historical cities, making them more walkable, liveable, and experientially engaging.

Session Chair:

1. Yang Liang, Lecturer, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, China. E-mail: liangyang@guet.edu.cn

5 Geographic Information System: The Operating System of Smart Cities

Scope:

Smart cities signify an advanced stage of urban informatisation, manifesting as an integrated and systematic ecosystem of information. A multitude of urban challenges share common infrastructure and data resources, and entail numerous common operational processes, so the development of smart cities necessitates an Operating System (OS). Given that cities are geographical entities, they must be digitally represented, and all urban entities and occurrences are geospatially located. Hence, urban challenges are inherently spatial in nature and incorporate spatial information—the operating system for smart cities can only be a Geographic Information System (GIS). By analogy with the OS of a computer, GIS can enable simulation, interaction, and decision-making, opening an unprecedented “new space” for the planning, comprehension, and management of cities. 

This session endeavours to assemble scholars from related disciplines who are dedicated to urban issue research, with the aim of jointly delving into the technical essence, governance rationale, and social ramifications of GIS as the OS of smart cities, and uncovering how GIS reconfigures the relationships among ternary space (physical space, social space and information space).

Session Chair:

1. Fu Ren, Professor, Wuhan University, China. E-mail: renfu@whu.edu.cn
2. Rui Zhu, Senior Lecturer, University of Bristol, The UK. E-mail: rui.zhu@bristol.ac.uk
3. Lina Huang, Associate Professor, Wuhan University, China. E-mail: linahuang@whu.edu.cn
4. Chen Zhang, Postdoctoral Researcher, Shenzhen University, China. E-mail: czhang@szu.edu.cn

6 Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Cities

Scope:

Cities play a pivotal role in the global combat against climate change. Concentrating population, economic activities, and energy consumption, cities account for a substantial share of the world’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. At the same time, as the centre of knowledge, innovation, culture, and prosperity, cities also hold immense potential to drive transformative climate action. Understanding, monitoring, and mitigating GHG emissions of cities are therefore critical steps toward achieving global climate goals and carbon neutrality.

This session focuses on the patterns, drivers, and mitigation pathways of GHG emissions across cities worldwide. It welcomes studies investigating energy systems, industrial structures, land use, consumption patterns in cities, as well as the city’s contributions to global GHG emissions. The session also highlights innovative data-driven approaches—such as satellite monitoring, emission inventories, and modelling frameworks—that enhance the accuracy, transparency, and comparability of city emission assessments.

In addition to quantifying emissions, the session aims to explore policies and strategies that enable cities to decarbonise efficiently, including renewable energy transitions, industrial upgrades, and behavioural shifts toward sustainable consumption. By bringing together researchers and practitioners, this session seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration, and promote evidence-based strategies for reducing the GHG emissions of cities, ultimately supporting the global transition toward just, climate-resilient, and sustainable futures.

This special session is supported by the journal Advances in Climate Change Research (Impact Factor: 6.4), which has a special issue on “Cities and Climate Change.” Relevant papers have the opportunity to be considered for publication in this special issue. For more information, please visit: https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/advances-in-climate-change-research/call-for-papers/special-issue-on-cities-and-climate-change/.

Session Chair:

1. Xinlu Sun, Postdoctoral Researcher, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, China. E-mail: xinlu.sun@pku.edu.cn
2. Andrew Sudmant, Programme Manager and IPCC SR Cities Lead Author, Edinburgh Climate Change Institute, University of Edinburgh, The UK. E-mail:  andrew.sudmant@ed.ac.uk
3. Zhifu Mi, Professor, The Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London, United Kingdom. E-mail: z.mi@ucl.ac.uk

7 Post-Industrial Realities: Digital Twins, Heritage Interpretation, and the Visitor’s Imagination

Scope:

As cities around the world transform their industrial legacies into sites of cultural meaning and urban regeneration, the digital turn is reshaping how these spaces are documented, interpreted, and experienced. This session explores the convergence of industrial heritage studies, immersive technologies, and visitor experience research under the rubric of “post-industrial realities.” We invite papers that critically examine how digital twins, 3D reconstructions, virtual and augmented reality, and other interactive media mediate between material remains and imagined pasts. How do these technologies reframe authenticity, memory, and affect in heritage interpretation? What new forms of engagement and storytelling emerge when the visitor becomes both observer and co-creator? By integrating perspectives from digital geography, heritage conservation, urban anthropology, and design, this session seeks to advance theoretical and methodological discussions on how digital mediation transforms the ways industrial heritage is perceived, narrated, and lived in the 21st century. 

Abstracts submitted to this session will be given priority for expedited review of manuscripts in Culture, where Sunny Han Han serves as Associate Editor, and in the Journal of Chinese Architecture and Urbanism, where he is a member of the editorial board and the lead editor of the special issue “From Industrial Heritage to Cultural and Creative Industries: Scenario Reshaping in Contemporary and Future Chinese Cities.” Note that, City+2026@Mytilene only accepts the abstract submission, and the authors need to submit their manuscripts to the journals separately.   

Session Chair:

1. Sunny Han Han, Tenured Associate Professor, Deputy Director and Principal Research Fellow at the Landscape Planning and Design Research Institute, Wuhan University. E-mail: hanhan41@whu.edu.cn
2. Dr. Florentina-Cristina Merciu, Researcher at the Faculty of Geography, Interdisciplinary Centre of Advanced Research on Territorial Dynamics, University of Bucharest, Romania. E-mail: cristina.merciu@geo.unibuc.ro

8 Resilient Built Heritage and Built Environment: Research Perspectives and Governance Responses

Scope:

Built heritage forms an integral part of the broader built environment, shaping not only cultural identity but also environmental performance, governance strategies, and community resilience. This session invites interdisciplinary research that bridges building science, heritage conservation and urban studies. We welcome contributions addressing topics such as environmental simulation and monitoring of historic buildings, digital documentation and modelling, heritage risk and climate adaptation, governance frameworks and data-driven or qualitative approaches that enhance the sustainability of built heritage within the built environment. By connecting technical methods with policy and cultural insights, this session aims to foster dialogue between engineers, architects, heritage professionals and social scientists on how built heritage can inform the future of a sustainable built environment.

Session Chair:

1. Dr. Xinyuan Dang, Building Physics and Sustainable Design Section, KU Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: dangxinyuan1994@gmail.com

Dr. Xinyuan Dang specialises in heat, air and moisture (HAM) modelling of building envelopes, and serves on international scientific/technical committees such as CIB W40 and UKCMN TWG1. He co-coordinated the largest international collaboration on HAM model assessment and is a regular speaker on hygrothermal studies at major building physics conferences, including IBPC, NSB, and CESBP. His research also encompasses heritage documentation, environmental monitoring and heritage governance. As an ICOMOS Emerging Professional and a member of IABP, Europa Nostra, ESACH, and YOCOCU, he actively fosters interdisciplinary collaboration between building scientists and conservation professionals.

9 The Development Nexus between Transportation and Urban Space 

Scope:

The interactive relationship between transportation and urban space has long been a central and complex challenge in the fields of transportation engineering and urban planning. Extensive research has demonstrated that the coordinated development of transportation systems and urban spatial structures is crucial for addressing the root causes of “urban maladies” in China and advancing sustainable urban development. With the rapid pace of urbanisation, transportation-related issues have emerged as a critical constraint on the healthy expansion of urban areas. As a fundamental framework shaping urban spatial configuration, transportation facilitates the dynamic movement and distribution of key urban elements, including passenger flows and logistics. Given the rapid emergence of new technologies and methodologies, there is an urgent need to undertake more comprehensive theoretical and empirical research to strengthen the conceptual and methodological frameworks in the fields of transport engineering and urban development.

Session Chair:

1. Sanwei He, Professor, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China. E-mail: hesanwei@zuel.edu.cn
2. Lei Wang, Professor, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. E-mail: wanglei@niglas.ac.cn
3. Wenting Zhang, Associate Professor, Huazhong Agricultural University, China. E-mail: wentingzhang@mail.hzau.edu.cn

10 Urban Blue and Green Spaces for Health and Well-being 

Scope:

Amid rapid urbanisation, demographic shifts, and lifestyle changes, urban blue and green spaces have become essential infrastructure shaping population health and well-being. Beyond providing environmental benefits, blue and green spaces influence mental restoration, stress reduction, physical activity, social cohesion, cultural ecosystem services, and health equity. Meanwhile, the rise of digital society and new urban behavioural patterns reshapes how people experience, perceive, and value nature in cities.

This session seeks to bring together cutting-edge research from urban planning, landscape architecture, public health, environmental psychology, geography, and urban informatics to explore pathways through which urban blue and green spaces contribute to healthier and more socially cohesive cities. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary approaches such as social media analytics, immersive sensing, GPS-based behavioural tracking, health monitoring, causal inference, spatial modelling, and machine learning.

We invite papers including, but not limited to:

▪ Health benefits of blue and green spaces: mental health, physical activity, cognitive restoration, loneliness reduction
▪ Park quality, accessibility, and environmental health equity
▪ Nighttime park use, perceived safety, gender differences, and inclusivity
▪ Cultural ecosystem services and spatiotemporal well-being assessment
▪ Big-data–based analyses of blue and green space use (social media, sensor data)
▪ Blue and green infrastructure design, microclimate improvement, and heat mitigation
▪ Nature-based solutions (NbS) and public health frameworks
▪ Health-oriented landscape planning and community-scale interventions
▪ Nature exposure and well-being among vulnerable populations (older adults, children, low-income groups)

By integrating evidence, theory, and planning practice, this session aims to advance actionable knowledge for building sustainable, inclusive, and health-promoting urban futures.

Session Chair:

1. Ziwen Sun, Associate Professor, Beijing Institute of Technology / University of Edinburgh Joint Laboratory of Healthy Space; School of Design and Arts, Beijing Institute of Technology. E-mail: ziwen.sun@bit.edu.cn
2. Haiyun Xu, Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning. E-mail: xuhaiyun@bucea.edu.cn
3. Longfeng Wu, Assistant Professor, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University. E-mail: longfengwu@pku.edu.cn

11 Urban Spatial Planning, Environmental Design, and Population Health

Scope:

Amid rapid urbanisation and global environmental change, the urban environment has emerged as a critical determinant of population health. Spatial configuration, green infrastructure, mobility systems, and building design collectively shape health outcomes—affecting chronic disease risks, mental well-being, infectious disease control, and health equity. Integrating health-oriented principles into spatial planning and environmental design is therefore essential for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, and SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities).

This session aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue across urban planning, public health, environmental science, and policy studies. It welcomes empirical studies, spatial modelling, and policy analyses that examine how urban environments influence health outcomes and resilience. By linking environmental design with public health strategies, this session seeks to generate actionable knowledge for creating inclusive, sustainable, and health-promoting urban futures.

Session Chair:

1. Puyue Gong, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University. E-mail: puyuegong@gmail.com