What, where and who is urban studies? On research centres in an unequal world

Abstract

This paper poses the question of what the proliferation of urban research centres across the world means for urban studies as a field of research, what this tells us about the (uneven) geographies of urban knowledge production and circulation, and who are the key institutions and researchers involved. In other words: what, where and who is urban studies? Building on a minor tradition of bibliometric research in urban studies and related disciplines, the paper assesses the Scopus-registered 2011–2021 publication output of the more than 1000 researchers affiliated to 30 urban studies centres across the world. The analysis points to four main observations. First, urban studies output is published in an extraordinarily wide range of journals, representing work from research communities across the social sciences and humanities, engineering, natural sciences and medical sciences. Second, clear global hierarchies exist in knowledge production, but co-authorship relations are also shaped by geographical proximity and the multidisciplinary profile of each individual research centre. Third, English is the dominant language of academic publications, but other languages play important roles for individual centres at the level of co-authorship relations and journals. Fourth, the article provides evidence of a diverse and globally distributed landscape of mid-sized urban studies centres that contribute substantially to the top urban studies journals. Each observation is linked to a reflection on the potential role for research centres in creating a more equal playing field for urban studies.

Aspectos didáticos da evolução urbana de São Luís, Maranhão, Brasil

“…Para efeitos de educação formal e informal, as características relatadas da cidade expandida reforçam a assertiva de que o estudo urbano tem caráter essencialmente multidisciplinar (Van Heur, 2023). Associada a essa característica, a acentuada dinâmica da ocupação de novas áreas gera situações muitas vezes inusitadas, exigindo que processos didáticos pertinentes à temática sejam constantemente adaptados e retroalimentados.…”

Deep reflection and daily life in urban research

“…Bas's analysis reveals that knowledge production in urban studies remains, perhaps unsurprisingly, dominated by the UK and US:The general overview is one in which Northern Europe, Western Europe and Northern America dominate the discussion — or to be more precise, in which authors based in these countries are centrally positioned in co-authorship networks of authors affiliated with urban studies centres in our dataset. (van Heur, 2024: 13)If you find yourself outside of these hubs and want to be well cited, Bas (very pragmatically, and not approvingly) recommends you co-author with people within the hubs:The simple lesson seems to be: if you want to publish an article that has a chance of receiving high citation rates, co-author with someone based in the US or UK. The few researchers based in the Global South who manage to have highly cited papers without co-authorship links to the Global North are based in South Africa, China or Hong Kong, and other regions completely disappear from the map.…”

“…The few researchers based in the Global South who manage to have highly cited papers without co-authorship links to the Global North are based in South Africa, China or Hong Kong, and other regions completely disappear from the map. (van Heur, 2024: 25)…”

“…The general overview is one in which Northern Europe, Western Europe and Northern America dominate the discussion — or to be more precise, in which authors based in these countries are centrally positioned in co-authorship networks of authors affiliated with urban studies centres in our dataset. (van Heur, 2024: 13)…”