Low-carbon city and its future research trends: A bibliometric analysis and systematic review

Low-carbon cities (LCCs) have attracted considerable attention from researchers over the past 15 years as an important initiative for mitigating global warming. The increased pilot LCCs in several countries and focus on theoretical research suggest the need to explore the associated research topics and characteristics, trends, and challenges. An in-depth analysis of literature on LCCs was conducted using the three-phase research involving documents searching, quantitative analyses and qualitative analyses. The quantitative analysis revealed that nearly 70% of LCC research was conducted in three countries. The results of the quantitative analysis also generated a map of term clusters, which identified the 9 major areas. A qualitative analysis of the literature indicated that transition to low-carbon energy is the most intensively researched category, and LCC planning and design dominates the research field. Based on the results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses, this study reports knowledge gaps in the literature and proposes future directions for LCC research in the context of four major trends: LCC planning and design, low-carbon energy transition, low-carbon decision support, and low-carbon management and policy. This study improves the existing knowledge on LCC-related research and provides a future guidance for theoretical research and pilot practices related to LCC.