Bibliometric Analysis of Urban Forests

This study analyzes the characteristics, maturity, and trends of urban forest research by collecting and examining 3,294 English academic papers published between 1972 and 2022. Using VOSviewer software for bibliometric analysis, the result shows that urban forest research has grown significantly since 2010, with roughly 82.9% of the literature published in the last decade. The study identified five clusters of global interest in urban forests. Urban forestry, urban ecology, and urban green space are mature, highly interconnected topics. In contrast, emerging issues like urban ecosystems, carbon sequestration, and carbon storage are still developing and remain relatively independent. A recent surge in papers on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) suggests it’s becoming a new mainstream topic. Future research should address key challenges such as the gap between theory and practice, developing environmental benefit indicators, bridging the link between ecological and socio-economic benefits, long-term operational viability, funding shortfalls, and the need for interdisciplinary collaboration to achieve sustainable development goals.