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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Local Economic Development and Planning

Local Economic Development and Planning is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 4.6k research works in it since 1954. 24.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the various aspects of local economic development (LED) in South Africa, including policies, regional and urban initiatives, sustainable development, employment strategies, and community-based approaches. It also explores the challenges and opportunities for LED in both rural and urban settings, with a particular emphasis on the South African context.

  • South Africa
  • local economic development
  • policy
  • regional
  • urban
  • sustainable development
  • rural
  • employment
  • community-based
  • spatial development
Research works
4.6k
fractional, since 1954
In the world top 10%
1.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
24.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+55%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Local Economic Development and Planning research?

By volume, Indonesia and South Africa publish the most (519 and 228 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Indonesia 519 works
  2. 2 South Africa 228 works
  3. 3 Nigeria 43 works
  4. 4 United States 37 works
  5. 5 Brazil 28 works
  6. 6 Germany 28 works
  7. 7 China 27 works
  8. 8 Malaysia 21 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 16 works
  10. 10 India 15 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.

Indonesia: 54.0%South Africa: 23.7%Nigeria: 4.5%United States: 3.8%6 others listed: 14.0%54%largest
Indonesia519 · 54.0%South Africa228 · 23.7%Nigeria43 · 4.5%United States37 · 3.8%6 others listed135 · 14.0%

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

Which institutions lead Local Economic Development and Planning research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University of Johannesburg publishes the most Local Economic Development and Planning research, followed by University of Brawijaya and Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 30 works
  2. 2 University of BrawijayaIndonesia 21 works
  3. 3 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 19 works
  4. 4 Diponegoro UniversityIndonesia 19 works
  5. 5 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 17 works
  6. 6 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 17 works
  7. 7 Universitas Gadjah MadaIndonesia 16 works
  8. 8 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 15 works
  9. 9 University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 15 works
  10. 10 IPB UniversityIndonesia 14 works

Where is Local Economic Development and Planning research done?

The largest centres of Local Economic Development and Planning research in 2022–2025 are Johannesburg (South Africa), Pretoria (South Africa), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Malang (Indonesia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Johannesburg South Africa 49 works
  2. 2 Pretoria South Africa 44 works
  3. 3 Jakarta Indonesia 42 works
  4. 4 Malang Indonesia 39 works
  5. 5 Bandung Indonesia 33 works
  6. 6 Surabaya Indonesia 31 works
  7. 7 Semarang Indonesia 30 works
  8. 8 Yogyakarta Indonesia 29 works
  9. 9 Makassar Indonesia 29 works
  10. 10 Durban South Africa 25 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. DurbanZA · 24.8 works37×
  2. JohannesburgZA · 48.5 works33×
  3. PretoriaZA · 44.3 works31×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Local Economic Development and Planning than the world average.

See Local Economic Development and Planning on the map

Where is the best place to study Local Economic Development and Planning?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Johannesburg, University of KwaZulu-Natal and University of the Witwatersrand score highest, combining 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 31.11%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University of Johannesburg: 30, 35.2%University of KwaZulu-Natal: 15, 34.7%University of the Witwatersrand: 17, 35.2%University of Venda: 14, 46.3%North-West University: 14, 37.4%IPB University: 14, 23.9%University of the Free State: 12, 39.1%University of Brawijaya: 21, 15.6%University of Indonesia: 13, 32.0%Diponegoro University: 19, 11.7%University of VendaUniversity of Johann…University of the Wi…University of KwaZul…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 82.135.2%41.0×30 +33.5%
2 University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 73.534.7%33.7×15 +93.5%
3 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 72.435.2%34.6×17 +17.4%
4 University of VendaSouth Africa 70.446.3%169.7×14 +7.5%
5 North-West UniversitySouth Africa 68.237.4%42.8×14 -7.1%
6 IPB UniversityIndonesia 66.923.9%21.4×14 +713.3%
7 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 64.939.1%42.2×12 -30.3%
8 University of BrawijayaIndonesia 64.315.6%20.2×21 +164.0%
9 University of IndonesiaIndonesia 63.732.0%9.2×13 +331.9%
10 Diponegoro UniversityIndonesia 61.911.7%19.7×19 +307.8%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Local Economic Development and Planning research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 55% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Local Economic Development and Planning.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

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.