Recent progress on innovative urban infrastructures system towards sustainable resource management

Abstract

Urban infrastructure, as the interface between the socioeconomic activities and natural resources/build environment, is critical to sustainable resource management at urban scale. To address various emerging challenges and capture opportunities for urban transition from an infrastructure system innovation perspective, this Special Issue (“Urban infrastructures system for sustainable resource management”) of the journal <Resources, Conservation & Recycling> highlighted recent progress on characterizing the sustainability of infrastructure system towards sustainable urban development and resource management, based upon comprehensive reviews, regenerative urban infrastructures development and urban industrial symbiosis, novel and integrated planning and evaluation tools/methods, and the innovative policies. The 21 articles in this SI showed that tangible socioeconomic and environmental benefits were able to be achieved from innovation on urban infrastructures system. The results and recommendations provided critical insights on how to promote innovative urban infrastructure development within different contexts. Via reviewing on the articles in this SI, an integrated framework for future research concerns and implications on promoting sustainable urban infrastructure planning and management is proposed, so as to create the synergies for addressing urban and regional environmental quality and impacts, and methods to track the ever-improvements through the established research framework.