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Urban and Rural Development Challenges

Urban and Rural Development Challenges is a research topic within Urban Studies. Science Explorer counts 25k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the challenges and complexities of urban poverty, slum upgrading, housing policy, informal settlements, and sustainable development in developing countries. It delves into issues such as land tenure, community participation, health equity, and poverty alleviation within the context of rapid urbanization and its impact on marginalized populations.

  • Urban Poverty
  • Slum Upgrading
  • Housing Policy
  • Informal Settlements
  • Urbanization
  • Land Tenure
  • Sustainable Development
  • Community Participation
  • Health Equity
  • Poverty Alleviation
Research works
25k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.5k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+13%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Nigeria
20% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Urban and Rural Development Challenges

Which countries lead Urban and Rural Development Challenges research?

By volume, Nigeria and India publish the most (831 and 614 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Nigeria 831 works
  2. 2 India 614 works
  3. 3 United States 535 works
  4. 4 Indonesia 478 works
  5. 5 South Africa 446 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 311 works
  7. 7 China 283 works
  8. 8 Malaysia 226 works
  9. 9 Brazil 209 works
  10. 10 Ghana 201 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.

Nigeria: 20.1%India: 14.9%United States: 12.9%Indonesia: 11.6%6 others listed: 40.5%20%largest
Nigeria831 · 20.1%India614 · 14.9%United States535 · 12.9%Indonesia478 · 11.6%6 others listed1,676 · 40.5%

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

Which institutions lead Urban and Rural Development Challenges research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Johannesburg publishes the most Urban and Rural Development Challenges research, followed by Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and Rivers State University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 69 works
  2. 2 Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and TechnologyGhana 61 works
  3. 3 Rivers State UniversityNigeria 42 works
  4. 4 University of LagosNigeria 40 works
  5. 5 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 39 works
  6. 6 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 35 works
  7. 7 University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 35 works
  8. 8 University of PretoriaSouth Africa 34 works
  9. 9 University of GhanaGhana 34 works
  10. 10 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 34 works

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

The most-cited researchers publishing on Urban and Rural Development Challenges include Andrei Shleifer, Benn K. D. Sartorius and Majid Ezzati.

  1. 1 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  2. 2 Benn K. D. Sartorius South Africa 208k citations
  3. 3 Majid Ezzati United Kingdom 175k citations
  4. 4 Peter W. Gething United Kingdom 171k citations
  5. 5 André M. N. Renzaho Australia 168k citations
  6. 6 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 167k 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 Urban and Rural Development Challenges?

The most cited paper in Urban and Rural Development Challenges is "The Microfinance Promise" (Jonathan Morduch, 1999), with 2,272 citations. Next come "The asset vulnerability framework: Reassessing urban poverty reduction strategies" (2,014) and "The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid" (1,925).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Microfinance Promise Jonathan Morduch · Journal of Economic Literature Dec 1999 2,272
2 The asset vulnerability framework: Reassessing urban poverty reduction strategies Caroline O. N. Moser · World Development 1998 2,014
3 The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid C. K. Prahalad, Stuart L. Hart · Revista Eletrônica de Estratégia & Negócios Open access 24 Aug 2010 1,925
4 Urbanization in developing countries: Current trends, future projections, and key challenges for sustainability Barney Cohen · Technology in Society 22 Dec 2005 1,908
5 Solid waste management challenges for cities in developing countries Lilliana Abarca-Guerrero, Ger Maas, William Hogland · Waste Management 23 Oct 2012 1,695
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Urban and Rural Development Challenges research done?

The largest centres of Urban and Rural Development Challenges research in 2022-now are Johannesburg (South Africa), Nairobi (Kenya), Pretoria (South Africa) and Lagos (Nigeria). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Tamale, Harare and Kumasi.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 JohannesburgSouth Africa 111 works
  2. 2 NairobiKenya 91 works
  3. 3 PretoriaSouth Africa 85 works
  4. 4 LagosNigeria 83 works
  5. 5 LondonUnited Kingdom 81 works
  6. 6 New DelhiIndia 81 works
  7. 7 DhakaBangladesh 71 works
  8. 8 KumasiGhana 68 works
  9. 9 Dar es SalaamTanzania 66 works
  10. 10 Kuala LumpurMalaysia 65 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. TamaleGH · 32.9 works45×
  2. HarareZW · 38.3 works43×
  3. KumasiGH · 68.0 works41×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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

See Urban and Rural Development Challenges on the map

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

Among universities, judged by research, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University of Johannesburg and University of Ghana 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 21.76%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Manche…Kwame Nkrumah Univer…University of GhanaUniversity of Johann…
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.

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
1Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and TechnologyGhana 80.126.4%48.1×61 +64.6%
2University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 68.111.6%19.1×69 +79.1%
3University of GhanaGhana 67.821.3%22.8×34 +25.8%
4University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 64.430.6%4.6×23 +45.0%
5The University of MelbourneAustralia 63.925.4%4.4×29 +18.1%
6Cardiff UniversityUnited Kingdom 63.637.6%3.8×10 +72.4%
7University of Cape TownSouth Africa 61.018.8%15.8×32 -1.4%
8University for Development StudiesGhana 58.015.9%56.4×30 +17.5%
9University of the Free StateSouth Africa 56.514.9%24.6×34 +15.4%
10University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 56.315.1%15.4×39 -8.5%

Universities only. The score blends 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 Urban and Rural Development Challenges, country by country

Is Urban and Rural Development Challenges research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 13% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Urban and Rural Development Challenges.

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 Urban and Rural Development Challenges as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.031% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Urban and Rural Development Challenges0.030% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Urban and Rural Development Challenges 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%Urban and Rural Development Challenges10.7% 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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