Computational Approaches for Urban Environments: An Editorial - Computational Approaches for Urban Environments - page 4

However, nowadays the added value of the applications of cutting-edge computa-
tional approaches to analyze urban environments is promising but still in its infancy
and far from being mainstream. Therefore, the editors of this volume believe that this
topic adds to the contemporary research agenda on cities from an interdisciplinary
point of view and highlights the large potential of data-driven techniques to better
understand how the individual urban subcomponents function and how cities as
a whole operate. As such, it seems that the full potential of geocomputational
approaches is still not entirely explored and more research is necessary. In this
regard, the chapters in this volume make use of the ever-increasing and more precise
geospatial urban data and linking them to up-to-date computational techniques
(Miller and Goodchild 2014 ). This is consistent with the urgent call by Solecki
et al. ( 2013 ) for a computationally integrated “urban science.” As a consequence,
this allows to formulate new and/or alternative hypotheses as well as to establish
novel and universal “urban laws and theories.” The authors hope that this edited
volume can add to this recent trend that has been observed in the literature.

1.2 Objectives

The present volume entitled Computational Approaches for Urban Environments
deals with the synergic usage of advanced computational methodologies in close
relationship to geospatial information across cities of different scales. The main
objective is to promote recent advances in the application of computational methods,
beyond traditional urban analysis, to achieve a (hopefully) more appropriate under-
standing of the inherent complexity of our cities and underlying mechanisms. In
doing so, the topic seeks to offer a complementary perspective to the large body
of literature dealing with the analysis of urban environments. To achieve more
holistic insights into cities, their dynamics, shapes, morphologies, and residents,
this collection of chapters subsumes research originating from disciplines such as
geography, economics, computer science, statistics, geographic information science,
remote sensing, and urban planning. It is anticipated that this topic shades light on
and contributes to contemporary problems cities are faced with and how it would
be possible to tackle them to offer urban decision- and policy-making a sound
and solid basis of understanding. The collection of chapters provides a selection
of actual computational approaches useful for, but not limited to, audiences that
include researchers, postgraduates, and professionals.
As indicated by the high response for the call for chapters, it appears that the
intention of this topic received wide approval. By the end of June 2013, a total of
32 chapter proposals were submitted. After an internal review by the editors, 30
authors of those originally 32 submitted proposals were invited to submit a chapter
manuscript. After the final chapter submission deadline on November 1 2013, a total
of 26 manuscripts were submitted. Subsequently, each of the 26 chapter manuscripts
was evaluated through a double-blind review process by at least two international
experts. For the review process, the standard Springer review guidelines were used.
Besides the innovative aspect of the research, the scientific quality of the research