Sustainability Trends in Humanitarian Architecture Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Despite the increasing need for Post-Disaster and Post-Conflict (PDPC) sheltering, and the rising number of humanitarian architects, there is a vague understanding of how “sustainable” shelters in PDPC situations are being addressed in the literature. Therefore, this paper aims at mapping and analyzing the current status and development trends in research that associates sustainability and shelters in PDPC situations during the past four decades (1982–2022) using a bibliometric analysis. This was fulfilled using VOSviewer to identify and visualize literature development trends, active journals, productive authors, contributing countries, influential institutions, and keyword networks. The findings identified four phases of the development process: no recognition (1982–2002), initiation (2003–2012), rapid growth (2013–2017), and accelerated growth (2018–2022). In terms of publications, the “International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction” and “Sustainability” are the key journals publishing in the field, whereas Gibson and Habert are the most publishing authors. The United States of America was found to be the leading country in the research field, albeit Université de Montréal in Canada was the most active in terms of institutions. The study suggests the promotion of social and economic standards in addition to the environmental while developing sustainable shelter solutions. It also advises shelter professionals from both public and private sectors to improve their collaborations with all related stakeholders.