Landscape Pattern and the Sustainability of Coastal Cities

Global urbanization has profoundly transformed the landscape patterns on the Earth's surface, and the resulting degradation of ecological functions has become a critical constraint on achieving urban sustainability. As the spatial manifestation of the interactions between human activities and natural processes, the optimization and regulation of landscape patterns are widely recognized as a key approach to enhancing urban sustainability.Understanding these landscape dynamics is essential for designing effective ecological restoration interventions. It determines where, when, and how to restore degraded ecosystems in urbanizing regions to recover ecosystem services and enhance ecological resilience.This Research Topic adopts an integrated analytical framework linking landscape pattern diagnostics, ecological process understanding, and restoration-driven urban sustainability. The logic is as follows: landscape pattern analysis reveals the spatial configuration and degradation status of ecosystems under urbanization; ecological process research identifies the functional consequences; and this knowledge informs spatially explicit restoration strategies that recover ecosystem services and enhance urban resilience. By closing this diagnostic-to-intervention loop, the Topic bridges landscape ecology with actionable ecosystem restoration science. Contributions are solicited on topics including, but not limited to:• Spatiotemporal characteristics and driving mechanisms of landscape pattern evolution under urbanization• Coupling relationships between landscape patterns and ecosystem services• Mechanisms through which urban landscape fragmentation and homogenization impact ecosystem functions• Innovative approaches to landscape connectivity assessment and ecological network construction• Landscape pattern optimization strategies for enhancing urban resilience toward sustainability• Measurement and ecological effects of urban blue-green space patterns• Application of ecosystem service supply-demand matching in territorial spatial planning• Pathways through which landscape patterns influence urban microclimate regulation and thermal environment improvement• Evaluation of ecological restoration projects in modifying regional landscape patterns• Identification and early warning of landscape ecological risks for sustainable development• Fragmentation processes and ecological consequences of key landscape elements such as coastal wetlands and protective forests• Multi-scale analysis and simulation of coastal landscape pattern evolution under land–sea interaction• Impact mechanisms of landscape patterns on disaster prevention and mitigation capacity in coastal zones• Responses and adaptation strategies of coastal landscape patterns in the context of climate change• Spatially explicit restoration strategies based on landscape pattern degradation diagnostics• Restoring key ecological processes to recover urban ecosystem functions and resilience• Linking landscape connectivity analysis to priority area identification for restoration interventions• Ecosystem service recovery through targeted restoration actions informed by ecological process understanding • Closing the diagnostic-intervention loop: from degradation assessment to restoration-driven urban sustainability Topic editors: Junxue Zhang, Yingnan Li, Jihui Yuan Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80053/landscape-pattern-and-the-sustainability-of-coastal-cities