Built Morphology and the Impact of Planning Policies: Case of Small Towns in Karnataka, India

This issue covers the topic of sustainable cities and communities: a topic that is given due importance as one of the Sustainable Development Goals. The sustainability of cities and communities is facilitated through a series of actions that aim at improving the quality of life for urban residents, protecting the world’s cultural and natural heritage, enhancing sustainable urbanization, and supporting underdeveloped countries in building resilient cities, among others. This journal issue shall comprise of a number of topics that fall under the umbrella of sustainable cities and communities, which would allow us to encourage the adoption of diverse solutions for sustainability issues and further contribute to the paradigm of sustainable cities and communities. Such issues include, but not limited to, the questions of housing, slums upgrading, sustainable planning, and waste management. These issues require urgent solutions as they pose imminent dangers such as the outgrowth of slums, uncontrollable increase in carbon footprint, shortage of affordable housing, and depletion of non-renewable energy that could be used in a balanced and controlled basket of energies. The urgency needed to address such issues in today’s societies requires the implementation of innovative measures in planning, design, construction and management of cities and their resources. This is an endeavour for which the accumulation of scientific research in the topic in question is an absolute necessity