Sustainable Port-City Nexus: Mobility, Connectivity, and Urban Transitions

Ports can no longer be understood as isolated logistics infrastructures, but rather as strategic nodes embedded within complex urban systems. Increasing pressure on coastal cities, climate change impacts, energy transition, digitalisation, and the transformation of global supply chains are profoundly reshaping the port–city relationship.

This Research Topic aims to explore the sustainable port-city nexus from a multidisciplinary perspective, focusing on how mobility, connectivity, planning strategies, and data-driven tools can foster a more efficient, resilient, and balanced integration between port systems and urban environments.

We welcome contributions addressing, among others: port-city mobility of passengers and freight; sustainable urban and port logistics; planning and governance of port areas and waterfronts; intermodal integration and territorial connectivity; resilience of port infrastructures in urban contexts; environmental and energy transition of ports and their urban impacts; and the application of artificial intelligence, digital twins, big data, and intelligent decision-support systems to support planning, mobility management, logistics optimisation, and sustainability goals in port-city environments.

The Research Topic will include theoretical contributions, methodological developments, modelling approaches, and international case studies.

Out of scope are purely technical or naval engineering studies without a clear urban or territorial dimension; general urban mobility papers not linked to port environments; and purely economic, legal, or AI-methodological papers without explicit implications for port-city planning, mobility, logistics, or sustainability.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review

Keywords: Port–City Integration, Port–City Interactions, Urban–Port Systems, Mobility, Logistics, Sustainability, Governance, Digital Transformation, Intermodal Connectivity, Energy Transition, Data-Driven Planning, AI-Based Tools, Decision-Making, Urban Planning

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.