Huang and co-authors examine the economic impacts of relocating Myanmar’s capital city. They find that economic losses exceed the benefits, while sprawl and pollution in the former capital have not improved.

Li and co-authors investigate the urban scaling laws of technology transfer in US cities, charting historical dynamics of the innovation landscape since 1858 and the emergence of new technologies and networks within and between cities.

This study carries out a scaling analysis comparing the elite wealth concentration of ancient Roman cities with modern urban centers. It found that increased wealth concentration corresponds with increased population sizes across these cities despite being separated by millennia.

Although urban fire incidents cause enormous casualties due to dense population concentrations, the risks from these incidents under a warming climate remain unknown. This study analyzed a global database of urban fire incidents to quantify and predict changes in the frequency of various urban fire incident types in response to a warming climate, finding general increases in fire frequency.

This study is a systematic review that combines both academic and policy sources to assess the state of smart cities in the Southern African Development Community. It found five major themes that call for a more nuanced approach to smart city governance that accounts for local variations.

Africa will drive much future urbanization. Using data from 1950–2020 and techniques from urban science, this study finds increasing economies of scale in land use and increasing concentrations of people in larger cities, contributing to broader patterns of urban evolution.

Rooftops, so emblematic of cities, can both elevate and ground us. In this I and the City, Massimiliano Luca considers this vantage point from above London.

In a time when cities are catching fire and flooding with increased regularity, longer term and larger scale challenges become evident and highlight the role of both urban knowledge production and urban policy processes.

Cities are known for improving quality of life, yet they also face numerous challenges as they evolve. In this issue of Nature Cities, which includes a Focus on smart cities, we delve into how cities generate opportunities to fulfill fundamental human needs such as food and shelter, all the while encountering obstacles in adopting new services, promoting equity and implementing policies.

The digital revolution has brought with it the promise of smart cities, harnessing big data to address complex urban issues. This Focus explores how the smart city concept can move beyond its technological foundations to encompass socially just and person-centric solutions that improve urban life.

The IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities provides an opportunity for clearing roadblocks to city action. The special report needs to provide the evidence base required to convince nation-states that cities are indispensable partners, while showing development banks and the private sector how to jump-start and accelerate city financing.

Tengyun Hu, a Beijing urban planner, explores how digital technology offers unprecedented opportunities to preserve Beijing’s unique architectural heritage in modern urban planning practices.