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Topic · Urban Studies

Urban Planning and Governance

Urban Planning and Governance is a research topic within Urban Studies. Science Explorer counts 13k research works in it since 1950. 47.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the impact of neoliberal urban policies, gentrification, and globalization on cities. It delves into topics such as urbanism, spatial planning, social sustainability, and the right to the city, offering critical perspectives on state power and the effects of neoliberalism on urban spaces.

  • Neoliberalism
  • Urbanism
  • Gentrification
  • Globalization
  • Urban Policy
  • Spatial Planning
  • Social Sustainability
  • Right to the City
  • Critical Urban Theory
  • State Power
Research works
13k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
47.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+29%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Urban Planning and Governance research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (494 and 388 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 United States 494 works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 388 works
  3. 3 Australia 138 works
  4. 4 Canada 135 works
  5. 5 Germany 120 works
  6. 6 Italy 115 works
  7. 7 China 112 works
  8. 8 Netherlands 98 works
  9. 9 India 89 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 70 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.

United States: 28.1%United Kingdom: 22.1%Australia: 7.8%Canada: 7.7%6 others listed: 34.4%28%largest
United States494 · 28.1%United Kingdom388 · 22.1%Australia138 · 7.8%Canada135 · 7.7%6 others listed605 · 34.4%

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

Which institutions lead Urban Planning and Governance research?

By volume in 2022–2025, University College London publishes the most Urban Planning and Governance research, followed by The University of Melbourne and University of Manchester.

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 42 works
  2. 2 The University of MelbourneAustralia 29 works
  3. 3 University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 23 works
  4. 4 Cardiff UniversityUnited Kingdom 22 works
  5. 5 University of TorontoCanada 21 works
  6. 6 University of SheffieldUnited Kingdom 20 works
  7. 7 Politecnico di MilanoItaly 19 works
  8. 8 National University of SingaporeSingapore 17 works
  9. 9 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 17 works
  10. 10 Delft University of TechnologyNetherlands 17 works

Who are the leading researchers in Urban Planning and Governance?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Urban Planning and Governance include John Urry, Allen J. Scott and Alan R. Townsend.

  1. 1 John Urry United Kingdom 2k citations
  2. 2 Allen J. Scott United States 1.6k citations
  3. 3 Alan R. Townsend United States 1.4k citations
  4. 4 Harry Smith United Kingdom 1.4k citations

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

Where is Urban Planning and Governance research done?

The largest centres of Urban Planning and Governance research in 2022–2025 are London (United Kingdom), Melbourne (Australia), Toronto (Canada) and Sydney (Australia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Cardiff, Sheffield and Newcastle upon Tyne.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 London United Kingdom 101 works
  2. 2 Melbourne Australia 50 works
  3. 3 Toronto Canada 42 works
  4. 4 Sydney Australia 35 works
  5. 5 Manchester United Kingdom 28 works
  6. 6 Milan Italy 27 works
  7. 7 New York United States 26 works
  8. 8 Chicago United States 26 works
  9. 9 Amsterdam Netherlands 24 works
  10. 10 Cardiff United Kingdom 24 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. CardiffGB · 24.2 works15×
  2. SheffieldGB · 23.3 works12×
  3. Newcastle upon TyneGB · 21.3 works9.8×
  4. ManchesterGB · 27.9 works8.0×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Urban Planning and Governance than the world average.

See Urban Planning and Governance on the map

Where is the best place to study Urban Planning and Governance?

Among universities, judged by research, University College London, University of Manchester and Aalto University 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%25%50%75%mean 53.8%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →University College London: 42, 58.1%University of Manchester: 23, 58.7%Aalto University: 8, 67.3%The University of Melbourne: 29, 47.6%University of Amsterdam: 17, 58.8%RMIT University: 10, 40.6%University of Sheffield: 20, 45.7%Utrecht University: 16, 58.1%Cardiff University: 22, 44.6%TU Dortmund University: 11, 58.5%Aalto UniversityUniversity of Manche…University College L…The University of Me…
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 College LondonUnited Kingdom 85.758.1%11.5×42 +94.0%
2 University of ManchesterUnited Kingdom 73.458.7%10.9×23 +30.7%
3 Aalto UniversityFinland 73.167.3%9.8×8 +154.3%
4 The University of MelbourneAustralia 71.747.6%11.0×29 +54.1%
5 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 71.358.8%11.9×17 +45.2%
6 RMIT UniversityAustralia 67.940.6%10.7×10 +176.1%
7 University of SheffieldUnited Kingdom 67.345.7%14.4×20 +75.9%
8 Utrecht UniversityNetherlands 67.258.1%11.4×16 -7.3%
9 Cardiff UniversityUnited Kingdom 66.744.6%19.6×22 +52.7%
10 TU Dortmund UniversityGermany 65.858.5%15.2×11 +118.9%

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 Urban Planning and Governance research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 29% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Urban Planning and Governance.

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.