A scientometric review of sustainable infrastructure research: visualization and analysis

Abstract

More and more infrastructure projects have been developed due to rapid economic growth worldwide. Compared to other construction projects, infrastructure projects are known for their long operational periods, construction complexity, and large impact on local communities. These issues make sustainable infrastructure development a growing necessity. However, the patterns and trends of sustainable infrastructure research remain vague without a systematic review and analysis. This study reviews the current sustainable infrastructure research using scientometric analysis techniques; that is, citation burst, keyword co-occurrence, direct citation and co-citation analyses. The findings reveal the trends of sustainable infrastructure research, main research areas within the scope of sustainable infrastructure, research front and pattern of citations in sustainable infrastructure research. The research findings also contribute to recognizing research gaps in the extant sustainable infrastructure literature and therefore provide directions for future research.

Keywords:

• Sustainable infrastructure
• green infrastructure
• scientometrics
• visualization
• network analysis
• review

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been supported by the project ‘Sustainable Infrastructure: Engineering, Health and Business Innovation’, project No. PH111 funded by Victoria University ‘Place-Based Planetary Health Grant Research Funding’ in conjunction with College of Engineering and Science, College of Health and Victoria Business School.