Neighbourhood research in the Global South: What do we know so far?

Abstract

The subfield within urban studies of neighbourhood research is largely known to be the domain of scholars from the Global North. How the subfield has been studied in the Global South is not well understood in the present literature. This study aims to characterize the field in the Global South using bibliometric analysis in order to understand the scholarship terrain. The paper analyses the publication trend, the extent of collaboration between regions, author productivity, as well as scholarship clusters. The paper finds that the subfield of neighbourhood research in the Global South, is largely dominated by China, given its major role in publication records, institutional contributions and international collaborations, and to a lesser extent, India. Elsewhere, South Africa and Brazil lead in Africa and South America, respectively. The subfield is characterized by five distinct clusters: residential satisfaction, informality and redevelopment, neighbourhood walkability, poverty and inequality, and territoriality. The subfield lacks much research in the areas of neighbourhood economy, neighbourhood effects and change, social exclusion, education and governance, which suggest major gaps in the Global South literature. Research clusters and future research trajectories are also discussed. • Bibliometric analysis is applied to study the academic landscapes of neighbourhood research in the Global South. • The domain of neighbourhood research in the Global South is characterized by five distinct scholarship clusters. • The subfield is largely under the hegemony of China. • Topics related to the local economy of neighbourhoods are sparse, indicating a knowledge gap.