Call for papers

More than half of the world’s population lives in cities, placing increasing pressure on urban environments, their residents and infrastructure. Drylands support over one-third of the global population, yet they are acutely vulnerable to changing climates and intense human disturbance. Dryland cities have continued to experience a rapidly increasing population as people move to large cities to seek employment and better social services.

Social and environmental issues in dryland cities are closely interconnected. Sustainable management of dryland cities therefore requires approaches that integrate water conservation, climate adaptation, ecological restoration, renewable energy, and equitable urban planning. This is critical to maintain social cohesion and avoid environmental problems such as the urban heat island effect. Exploring ecological and social sustainability in arid and semiarid cities requires specialized, spatially explicit approaches that balance development with environmental sustainability.

Geographic perspectives and advanced geospatial technologies provide tools to better understand the unique coupling of human-environmental systems in dryland cities. The geography discipline can also provide a pathway to improve urban planning, social and physical wellbeing, and to provide solutions that alleviate the negative stresses associated with living in large urban centres.

The objective of this themed collection is to assemble manuscripts that focus on the social-ecological impacts of urbanisation in the world’s dryland cities.

We welcome research articles, reviews, perspectives, rapid communications and case studies addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Sustainable water supply under increasing climate variability in dryland cities
• Restoration and rehabilitation of degraded peri-urban environments
• Renewable energy integration for sustainable urban living
• Novel food production systems to sustain food security in dryland cities
• Urban design adaptation under extreme climates
• Urban planning to ensure social equality and environmental justice
• Nature-based solutions for urban drylands
• Circular economy approaches in urban drylands
• Governance and policy frameworks for sustainable urban drylands

Submission Deadline: 31^st December 2026

Lead Editors

David Eldridge, University of New South Wales, Australia, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge Prisms: Drylands

Jingyi Ding, Beijing Normal University, China, Editor of Cambridge Prisms: Drylands