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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

French Urban and Social Studies

French Urban and Social Studies is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 101k research works in it since 1950. 10.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of territorial governance, environmental participation, and sustainable development. It delves into topics such as citizen participation, local development, social justice, and community engagement in the context of rural territories. The papers also discuss the role of proximity and innovation in shaping public policy for sustainable and inclusive development.

  • Territorial Governance
  • Environmental Participation
  • Sustainable Development
  • Citizen Participation
  • Local Development
  • Proximity and Innovation
  • Rural Territories
  • Public Policy
  • Social Justice
  • Community Engagement
Research works
101k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
11k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-15%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
75% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
French Urban and Social Studies

Which countries lead French Urban and Social Studies research?

By volume, France and Canada publish the most (12k and 929 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 12k works
  2. 2 Canada 929 works
  3. 3 United States 709 works
  4. 4 ?? 583 works
  5. 5 Switzerland 338 works
  6. 6 Belgium 319 works
  7. 7 United Kingdom 308 works
  8. 8 Germany 211 works
  9. 9 Italy 199 works
  10. 10 Algeria 191 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

France: 75.5%Canada: 6.0%United States: 4.6%??: 3.8%6 others listed: 10.1%75%largest
France12k · 75.5%Canada929 · 6.0%United States709 · 4.6%??583 · 3.8%6 others listed1,566 · 10.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead French Urban and Social Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most French Urban and Social Studies research, followed by Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement and Université de Lyon.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 3.3k works
  2. 2 Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'EnvironnementFrance 552 works
  3. 3 Université de LyonFrance 390 works
  4. 4 Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 258 works
  5. 5 Université de LorraineFrance 243 works
  6. 6 Université Paris NanterreFrance 239 works
  7. 7 Université Paris-SaclayFrance 233 works
  8. 8 Université Paris CitéFrance 197 works
  9. 9 Université Grenoble AlpesFrance 195 works
  10. 10 Nantes UniversitéFrance 181 works

Who are the leading researchers in French Urban and Social Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on French Urban and Social Studies include Pierre Bourdıeu, Jean‐Louis Vincent and Philippe Ciais.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Jean‐Louis Vincent Belgium 262k citations
  3. 3 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  4. 4 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  5. 5 David P. Bartel United States 200k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in French Urban and Social Studies?

The most cited paper in French Urban and Social Studies is "Dilemmas in a general theory of planning" (Horst W. J. Rittel, Melvin M. Webber, 1973), with 15,625 citations. Next come "Outline of a Theory of Practice" (5,556) and "The New Mobilities Paradigm" (5,546).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Dilemmas in a general theory of planning Horst W. J. Rittel, Melvin M. Webber · Policy Sciences Open access Jun 1973 15,625
2 Outline of a Theory of Practice Pierre Bourdıeu Book chapterOpen access 6 Dec 2007 5,556
3 The New Mobilities Paradigm Mimí Sheller, John Urry · Environment and Planning A Economy and Space Feb 2006 5,546
4 Ecology: Individuals, Populations and Communities. Steward T. A. Pickett, Walter P. Carson, Michael E. Begon et al. · Brittonia Jul 1987 3,176
5 ’Society Must Be Defended’: Lectures at the College de France Mark Coté · Canadian Journal of Communication Open access 3 Nov 2004 2,505
All 102 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is French Urban and Social Studies research done?

The largest centres of French Urban and Social Studies research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Lyon (France), Toulouse (France) and Montreal (Canada). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Rennes, Thiais and Le Barp.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 3.5k works
  2. 2 LyonFrance 672 works
  3. 3 ToulouseFrance 435 works
  4. 4 MontrealCanada 369 works
  5. 5 MontpellierFrance 360 works
  6. 6 NanterreFrance 345 works
  7. 7 LilleFrance 314 works
  8. 8 NantesFrance 304 works
  9. 9 RennesFrance 293 works
  10. 10 MarseilleFrance 290 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Rennes46.7 works246×
  2. ThiaisFR · 34.9 works130×
  3. Le BarpFR · 28.8 works120×
  4. SceauxFR · 29.5 works114×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in French Urban and Social Studies than the world average.

See French Urban and Social Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study French Urban and Social Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, Université de Parakou, University of Douala and Marien Ngouabi University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.23%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Marien Ngouabi Unive…University of DoualaUniversité de ParakouUniversity of Lomé
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Université de ParakouBenin 65.431.8%25.1×11 +13.6%
2University of DoualaCameroon 61.735.6%9.0×10 +128.8%
3Marien Ngouabi UniversityRepublic of the Congo 59.236.6%15.8×10 +64.0%
4University of LoméTogo 59.124.6%19.3×16 +93.7%
5Université de LyonFrance 59.06.9%41.1×390 +8.9%
6Université Lille Nord de FranceFrance 58.88.0%42.5×258 +19.1%
7Conservatoire National des Arts et MétiersFrance 57.715.1%65.2×79 +12.0%
8Université Gustave EiffelFrance 56.68.3%61.0×134 +96.5%
9University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 56.030.1%0.8×17 +58.4%
10Université du Québec à MontréalCanada 55.815.3%43.7×151 +1.1%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in French Urban and Social Studies, country by country

Is French Urban and Social Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 15% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is French Urban and Social Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.088% in 2024.

still counting0.050%0.10%0.15%French Urban and Social Studies0.041% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of French Urban and Social Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%French Urban and Social Studies9.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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