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Topic · Urban Studies

Sustainable Urban and Rural Development

Sustainable Urban and Rural Development is a research topic within Urban Studies. Science Explorer counts 4.9k research works in it since 1951. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the Slow Cities movement, focusing on sustainable urban development, local community empowerment, and the preservation of cultural heritage and environmental conservation. The research delves into the impact of Slow Cities on quality of life, socio-economic development in small towns, and the promotion of urban sustainability.

  • Slow Cities
  • Sustainable Development
  • Urban Sustainability
  • Local Community
  • Quality of Life
  • CittàSlow Movement
  • Small Towns
  • Socio-economic Development
  • Cultural Heritage
  • Environmental Conservation
Research works
4.9k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
497
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+27%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
27% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Sustainable Urban and Rural Development

Which countries lead Sustainable Urban and Rural Development research?

By volume, China and Türkiye publish the most (335 and 207 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 335 works
  2. 2 Türkiye 207 works
  3. 3 Ukraine 152 works
  4. 4 Russia 150 works
  5. 5 Poland 124 works
  6. 6 United States 87 works
  7. 7 Italy 69 works
  8. 8 Romania 55 works
  9. 9 Brazil 35 works
  10. 10 Serbia 34 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.

China: 26.9%Türkiye: 16.6%Ukraine: 12.2%Russia: 12.1%6 others listed: 32.3%27%largest
China335 · 26.9%Türkiye207 · 16.6%Ukraine152 · 12.2%Russia150 · 12.1%6 others listed402 · 32.3%

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

Which institutions lead Sustainable Urban and Rural Development research?

By volume in 2022-now, Human Growth Foundation publishes the most Sustainable Urban and Rural Development research, followed by Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture and Lviv Polytechnic National University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Human Growth FoundationUnited States 17 works
  2. 2 Kyiv National University of Construction and ArchitectureUkraine 15 works
  3. 3 Lviv Polytechnic National UniversityUkraine 15 works
  4. 4 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 14 works
  5. 5 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 12 works
  6. 6 Weatherford CollegeUnited States 12 works
  7. 7 Moscow State Art and Industry Academy named after SG StroganovRussia 11 works
  8. 8 University of BelgradeSerbia 10 works
  9. 9 Bulgarian Academy of SciencesBulgaria 10 works
  10. 10 Taras Shevchenko National University of KyivUkraine 9 works

Who are the leading researchers in Sustainable Urban and Rural Development?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Sustainable Urban and Rural Development include Peter J. Nijkamp.

  1. 1 Peter J. Nijkamp Netherlands 51k 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 Sustainable Urban and Rural Development?

The most cited paper in Sustainable Urban and Rural Development is "‘Cultivating health’: therapeutic landscapes and older people in northern England" (Christine Milligan, Anthony C. Gatrell, Amanda F. Bingley, 2003), with 565 citations. Next come "Walking and Rhythmicity: Sensing Urban Space" (367) and "Creating Ordinary Places: Slow Cities in a Fast World" (333).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 ‘Cultivating health’: therapeutic landscapes and older people in northern England Christine Milligan, Anthony C. Gatrell, Amanda F. Bingley · Social Science & Medicine Open access 17 Sep 2003 565
2 Walking and Rhythmicity: Sensing Urban Space Filipa Matos Wunderlich · Journal of Urban Design Feb 2008 367
3 Creating Ordinary Places: Slow Cities in a Fast World Paul L. Knox · Journal of Urban Design Feb 2005 333
4 Slow Cities: Sustainable Places in a Fast World Heike Mayer, Paul L. Knox · Journal of Urban Affairs 29 Aug 2006 299
5 The Practical Aesthetics of Traditional Cuisines: Slow Food in Tuscany Mara Miele, Jonathan Murdoch · Sociologia Ruralis Oct 2002 255
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Sustainable Urban and Rural Development research done?

The largest centres of Sustainable Urban and Rural Development research in 2022-now are Kyiv (Ukraine), Moscow (Russia), Beijing (China) and Istanbul (Türkiye). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Lviv.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 KyivUkraine 61 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 57 works
  3. 3 BeijingChina 36 works
  4. 4 IstanbulTürkiye 35 works
  5. 5 WarsawPoland 25 works
  6. 6 Saint PetersburgRussia 24 works
  7. 7 New YorkUnited States 22 works
  8. 8 LvivUkraine 22 works
  9. 9 KharkivUkraine 22 works
  10. 10 BelgradeSerbia 21 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. LvivUA · 21.6 works19×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Sustainable Urban and Rural Development than the world average.

See Sustainable Urban and Rural Development on the map

Where is the best place to study Sustainable Urban and Rural Development?

Among universities, judged by research, Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra and Politecnico di Milano 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%10%20%30%mean 8.64444%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Slovak University of…Kyiv National Univer…Politecnico di MilanoLviv Polytechnic Nat…
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
1Kyiv National University of Construction and ArchitectureUkraine 89.516.2%172.9×15 +17.9%
2Slovak University of Agriculture in NitraSlovakia 70.025.9%120.6×9 +333.3%
3Politecnico di MilanoItaly 60.53.5%11.4×12 +58.5%
4Lviv Polytechnic National UniversityUkraine 51.52.4%37.0×14 +5.4%
5University of BelgradeSerbia 48.84.3%10.5×10 +26.6%
6Weatherford CollegeUnited States 45.99.2%5.9×12 +195.4%
7O.M. Beketov National University of Urban Economy in KharkivUkraine 38.611.2%97.0×9 +89.5%
8Moscow State Art and Industry Academy named after SG StroganovRussia 34.40.0%614.6×11 +696.1%
9Taras Shevchenko National University of KyivUkraine 26.45.1%21.9×9 -38.1%

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 Sustainable Urban and Rural Development, country by country

Is Sustainable Urban and Rural Development research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 27% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Sustainable Urban and Rural Development.

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 Sustainable Urban and Rural Development as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0062% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%Sustainable Urban and Rural Development0.0075% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Sustainable Urban and Rural Development 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%Sustainable Urban and Rural Development10.1% in 202520102020

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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