1. Introduction
Cities are at the centre of the global sustainability transition. They are simultaneously major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions, resource consumption, and environmental degradation, and critical sites for innovation, governance, and social change. In recent years, artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful enabling technology in urban contexts, supporting advances in energy management, intelligent buildings, smart mobility, environmental monitoring, infrastructure management, and urban decision-making.
As AI-driven systems become increasingly embedded in urban environments, questions of sustainability, resilience, equity, and governance have become more urgent. While technical capabilities continue to advance rapidly, the effective and responsible integration of AI into cities requires interdisciplinary collaboration that bridges engineering, data science, urban planning, environmental science, and public policy.
Despite growing research activity, work at the intersection of AI and sustainable cities remains dispersed across disciplinary and sectoral boundaries. Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Cities is established to provide a dedicated scholarly platform that brings these perspectives together and supports the development of robust, evidence-based solutions to complex urban challenges.
2. Aims and scope of the journal
Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Cities publishes original research articles, review papers, perspectives, and methodological contributions that examine the design, implementation, and governance of AI-enabled solutions for sustainable urban development. The journal emphasises both technical innovation and its broader environmental, social, and policy implications.
The scope of AIFSC includes, but is not limited to:
- AI-driven energy management and low-carbon urban systems
- Intelligent building systems and sustainable infrastructure
- Smart mobility, transport optimisation, and logistics
- Environmental monitoring, climate adaptation, and mitigation using AI
- Digital twins, simulation, and urban decision-support systems
- Robotics and automation in urban and infrastructure contexts
- AI governance, ethics, and regulation in cities
- Data-driven urban planning and resource-efficient city design
By providing an interdisciplinary forum, the journal seeks to connect researchers, engineers, urban planners, and policymakers, and to facilitate knowledge exchange between academia and practice.
3. Editorial principles and publishing approach
AIFSC is committed to high standards of academic quality, transparency, and research integrity. All research articles are subject to peer review appropriate to their disciplinary and methodological context. The journal encourages methodological clarity, reproducibility where applicable, and responsible reporting of AI-based research and applications.
As an open access journal, AIFSC aims to maximise the visibility and accessibility of published work, supporting global engagement with research on sustainable urban development. The journal recognises that cities differ widely in their institutional, social, and environmental contexts, and actively encourages submissions that reflect geographic diversity and varied development pathways.
4. Looking ahead
AIFSC is committed to high standards of academic quality, transparency, and research integrity. All research articles are subject to peer review appropriate to their disciplinary and methodological context. The journal encourages methodological clarity, reproducibility where applicable, and responsible reporting of AI-based research and applications.
As an open access journal, AIFSC aims to maximise the visibility and accessibility of published work, supporting global engagement with research on sustainable urban development. The journal recognises that cities differ widely in their institutional, social, and environmental contexts, and actively encourages submissions that reflect geographic diversity and varied development pathways.
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