Guest editors
Dr Daguang Han (Lead Guest Editor), Southeast University, China – daguang.han@gmail.com
Dr Long Chen, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China – longchen@cityu.edu.hk
Professor Stergios-Aristoteles Mitoulis, University College London, United Kingdom – s.mitoulis@ucl.ac.uk
Dr Pingbo Tang, Carnegie Mellon University, United States – ptang@andrew.cmu.edu
Introduction
Future cities must above all be safe, comfortable and convenient places to live. Yet much of the infrastructure they rely on, from bridges, tunnels and railways to power lines, substations, water networks and buildings, was designed for a climate and a pattern of use that no longer exist. It is ageing faster than it can be replaced, while storms, floods, heatwaves and compound hazards grow more frequent. When it fails, the effects cascade across interdependent networks, and people lose power, water, transport and access to essential services: Storm Arwen alone left around a million customers in Great Britain without electricity in 2021. The burden falls hardest on those least able to cope.
Replacing this infrastructure wholesale is too slow, too costly and too carbon-intensive. The alternative is to renew it: to know the actual condition of each asset, strengthen it precisely where it is needed, and upgrade it with new functions instead of demolishing it. Six decades after Archigram's Plug-in City imagined cities renewed by plugging in new parts, digital twins, artificial intelligence, robotics and additive manufacturing are beginning to make this possible for the infrastructure we already have.
This special issue of Future Cities invites research that turns this possibility into safer and more liveable cities. We welcome contributions that (1) build and update digital twins of ageing assets and networks from sensing and reality capture, including MEMS, photonic, fibre-optic, vision-based and UAV systems; (2) assess safety, reliability and remaining life under climate extremes and compound hazards, from prediction and early warning to protection and rapid recovery; (3) develop new ways to strengthen existing structures and extend their life, including novel materials, topology-optimised and additively manufactured reinforcement, self-sensing and adaptive systems, and precise, asset-specific retrofit; (4) enable plug-in upgrades that add new functions, sensing or capacity to existing structures and districts; (5) apply AI agents and robotics to assessment, inspection, maintenance, repair and construction, preparing infrastructure for an age of intelligent machines; and (6) link engineering evidence to the decisions of owners, regulators and communities, including whole-life cost and carbon, circular reuse and resilience standards.
Energy networks deserve particular attention. As cities electrify heating and transport, overhead lines, towers, cables and substations become critical lifelines; regulators such as Ofgem are introducing climate-resilience stress testing for network companies, and governments are setting resilience standards for critical infrastructure. Railways, roads, water systems and the building stock face similar pressures, and contributions on them are equally welcome.
We welcome research papers, technical papers, case studies and reviews from academia, industry and public bodies, particularly interdisciplinary work that links engineering with planning, policy and economics, and international case studies. Every contribution should show how it makes cities safer, more resilient or more liveable, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals 7, 9, 11 and 13.
Future Cities is a gold open access journal. The article processing charge is waived for manuscripts submitted before 31 December 2026, and early submission is encouraged.
List of topic areas
People-centred outcomes: how renewing infrastructure makes cities safer, more comfortable and more accessible, especially for vulnerable communities
Digital twins of ageing assets, asset fleets and networks: creation, model updating and use in asset management
Sensing, non-destructive testing and reality capture: MEMS, photonic and fibre-optic sensors, computer vision, laser scanning, and UAV and vehicle-based inspection
Safety, deterioration, reliability and remaining-life assessment under climate extremes (windstorms, floods, heat) and compound hazards
Disaster risk reduction for infrastructure: prediction, early warning, protection, post-event safety assessment, and rapid recovery and reconstruction with modular emergency structures
Novel strengthening and life extension: new materials, generative and topology-optimised design, additively manufactured reinforcement, self-sensing and adaptive systems, and precise, asset-specific retrofit
Plug-in upgrades and adaptive reuse: adding new functions, sensing and capacity to existing structures and districts
Artificial intelligence and robotics for assessment, inspection, maintenance, repair and construction, from machine learning to AI agents and human–machine collaboration
Climate resilience of energy networks (overhead lines, towers, foundations, cables and substations) as cities electrify
Interdependencies and cascading failures across energy, transport, water and digital networks
Renewal of railway, road, bridge, water and geotechnical assets and of the building stock
Whole-life cost and carbon, circular reuse, the value of monitoring information, and the governance, regulation and standards of resilient infrastructure
Case studies from cities in the UK, Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Submissions information
Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available at: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/fcj?_gl=1*1lpocwl*_gcl_au*NDA1MjcxMTAxLjE3ODcxMzI0Nzg.*_ga*NDQ2MjcyNDQwLjE3NDc5NDAxODY.*_ga_45RWY1YP1V*czE3OTE0Njg3OTgkbzcxMiRnMSR0MTc5MTQ2OTAxOCRqNDAkbDAkaDA.
Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see: https://www.emerald.com/journals/author-guidance/1627/emerald-publishing-author-guidelines
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
Opening date for manuscripts submissions: 1st November 2026
Closing date for manuscripts submission: 31st March 2027
Closing date for abstract submission: 30th November 2026
