Bibliometric Analysis of Urban Density: Research Trends, Gaps, and Future Perspectives in Urban Studies

Urban density indicates the number of people, land uses, or buildings within a given area and plays a key role in shaping the efficiency of urban space, accessibility, and optimal use of infrastructure. Given five decades of study and research in the field of urban density and the lack of a comprehensive review of previous research, the present study aims to examine these studies using bibliometric analysis quantitatively. To this end, performance analysis and scientometric mapping of documents extracted from the Web of Science database were carried out using VOSviewer to examine the structural trends of research. The findings of the bibliometric analysis show that concepts such as population density, urbanization, urban planning, and the built environment form the core of urban density research. At the same time, the concentration of studies on limited geographical areas and the lack of attention to qualitative issues such as urban vitality, spatial justice, and security are major gaps in this field. To advance knowledge of urban density, future research needs to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to examine the interaction between density, the urban environment, and the well-being of residents.