Mapping the Knowledge Domain of Smart City Development to Urban Sustainability: A Scientometric Study

ABSTRACT

Smart city development plays an important role in achieving urban sustainability. This paper uses mapping of knowledge domain (MKD) analysis to review 965 studies concerning smart city development and urban sustainability (SCDUS). The most influential journals, scholars, articles, keywords, and regions in the SCDUS research field are identified. Research findings also reveal four prevailing topic clusters in the current SCDUS field, namely information technology, energy and environment, urban transportation and mobility, and urban policy and development planning. Potential research frontiers are further proposed. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the development of current SCDUS research.

KEYWORDS:

• Smart city development
• urban sustainability
• visualization
• mapping knowledge domain

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Humanities and Social Sciences Grant, Ministry of Education of China [Grant No. 17YJCZH191]; Research Start-up Funding in Shenzhen [Grant No. 000376]; Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong [Grant No. ITP/020/18LP]; General Research Fund (GRF) [Grant No. BRE/PolyU 152099/18E]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Nos 71834005, 71673232]; the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong [Grant Nos CityU 11271716, CityU 21209715].

Notes on contributors

Zezhou Wu

Zezhou Wu is an assistant professor at the Sino-Australia Joint Research Center in BIM and Smart Construction at the College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.

Mingyang Jiang

Mingyang Jiang is a postgraduate student at the Sino-Australia Joint Research Center in BIM and Smart Construction at the College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.

Heng Li

Heng Li is chair and professor in the Department of Building and Real Estate at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.

Xiaoling Zhang

Xiaoling Zhang is a professor in the Department of Public Policy at the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.