Research articles

Soils underlie cities and are foundational to parks and other green infrastructure, but urban soils are often polluted or otherwise unsuitable. This study tests the potential for combining sediment construction wastes with high-carbon organic amendments, identifying mixtures that provide essential urban soil functions.

Green roofs enhance urban ecosystem services, but the long-term vegetation health and design’s impact is underexplored. This study shows a temporal increase in vegetation health and identifies key factors and thresholds that support sustained vegetation health, offering guidance for effective green roof planning and design.

Urbanization disrupts oak tree microbiomes by reducing beneficial fungi and increasing plant and human pathogens across leaves, roots and soils, with consequences for tree health, urban climate mitigation and potential human exposure to pathogens.

Media informs how we see our cities and ourselves. Using news headlines, this study reveals how the press coverage of Egypt’s New Administrative Capital City project reinforced a vision of urban growth that echoed commercial aspirations.

State planning goals in South Africa often misalign with the lived realities of communities despite shared quality-of-life visions. Analysis across low-income communities reveals temporal, spatial and responsibility disconnects between government directives and urgent local needs.

At the nexus of machine learning and urban climate change mitigation, this systematic map identifies a fast growth of research, highlights under-researched impact areas and reveals geographic biases. It also offers recommendations to promote the impactful deployment of machine learning solutions in this urban domain.

Context counts, and not just for social and economic aspects of urban life. This study finds that, for 16 cities in the United Kingdom, the landcover of the rural surroundings is a better predictor of ticks and environmental Lyme disease hazard than the landcover within the cities themselves.

Healthcare access varies dramatically across urban areas, yet most research focuses on primary care in rural versus urban settings. Analysis of medical specialties across US cities reveals a surprising paradox: larger cities offer more diverse healthcare but fewer specialists per capita.

Extreme heat in Latin America increases road traffic mortality risks, with motorcyclists and bicyclists facing a 27% higher risk on the hottest days. Urban protection measures for vulnerable commuters in cities in the Global South are critical as climate change intensifies heat exposure.

Seoul’s stimulus program restricted spending to recipients’ residential cities during the COVID-19 pandemic, redistributing consumption geographically. Analysis of credit card data reveals a decrease in virus spread compared to scenarios without restrictions, offering insights for future pandemics.

Hillside urbanization rises as cities exhaust flat land, threatening sensitive ecosystems. Mapping of 11.65 Mha added since 2000 reveals that 35% of them are in critical areas, fragmenting habitats and endangering 70% of globally threatened species.

War has myriad recognized impacts on cities and the environment. This study adds insult to injury, providing spaceborne evidence that the destruction of warfare triggers rapid and substantial increases in urban methane emissions.

Dual implementation of climate mitigation and adaptation policies in Chinese cities significantly enhances low-carbon resilience, particularly under extreme weather, through green innovation, human capital and infrastructure. This integrated approach offers a model for urban climate governance, emphasizing co-benefits and tailored strategies for diverse city types.

French planning decisions systematically locate Traveller sites near environmental disamenities. This study reveals disproportionate exposure to waste facilities and highways compared to other residential areas.

Smart city research remains fragmented between technology-driven and human-centered approaches, despite growing interest. This analysis of research proposals from the USA and China reveals common ground, divergent priorities and funding mechanisms that risk dividing the field further.

Partial flood defenses in Surat, India, reduce citywide flood losses but worsen inequality, with vulnerable areas facing deeper flooding. This study shows how constrained urban flood adaptation can redistribute rather than eliminate risk.

Heatwaves and ozone pollution pose compounded risks to urban health, but limited vertical insights have hindered understanding of their interaction. Using airship observations and model simulations, this study reveals that heatwaves worsen urban ozone pollution by vertically redistributing precursors, while emission reductions could mitigate heat–ozone extremes in a warming climate.

China’s rapid e-commerce growth has driven a 12-fold surge in express delivery, yet cross-regional emissions and health impacts remain poorly quantified. Road transport emitted 23.9-Mt CO₂-equivalent and caused approximately 5,100 premature deaths in 2021, revealing stark transit-region health inequities and guiding sustainable logistics pathways.

Understanding who is being left behind, where and how is crucial to advancing the United Nations’ commitment to ‘leaving no one behind’. This study maps urban slums and wealth distribution across 32 sub-Saharan African countries, revealing a decreasing proportion of the population living in slums, yet a concerning rise in wealth inequality.

The soils of urban greenspaces are strikingly rich. This study finds that the variety of microbial life there is linked to acidic conditions and that this diversity is more homogenous than found in farmland soils.