Browse research

Development of a spatial vulnerability index for day–night compound heatwaves and exploration of mechanisms underlying heterogeneity: Township-scale evidence from Anhui Province, China

Nonlinear and heterogeneous effects of 2D/3D factors on global urban heat island using explainable spatial machine learning

Hazardous below-ground housing in transition: environmental inequality, residential flows, and residualization in Korea

Urban Flood Risk Prediction Based on the Hybrid Sampling of Imbalanced Data and Deep Learning Model

Digital inequalities and multidimensional deprivation among marginalised communities in emerging Chinese smart cities: Evidence from ICT-driven public service transformation in Jiangan District, Wuhan

Global Cities Index 2026

Oxford Economics ranks the world's 1,000 largest cities on economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance, combining historical data with its own forecasts.

The Future of World Heritage Cities: Heritage Governance and New Urban Commons

Discusses how World Heritage cities are governed and how heritage could be approached as a new form of urban commons.

SDG 11 Global Synthesis Report 2026

UN-Habitat's periodic review of progress on Sustainable Development Goal 11 (sustainable cities), presented in July 2026; it records some gains but warns the housing crisis threatens overall progress.

EIU Global Liveability Index 2026

The annual EIU ranking scores 173 cities on 30 indicators across stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure, based on a May 2026 survey.

Refugees as Urban Stakeholders: Lessons From Reception of Ukrainians in German Cities

Draws lessons from how German cities received Ukrainian refugees, framing refugees as stakeholders in urban development rather than only as recipients of aid.

South Sudan Urbanization Review: Cities as Anchors of Recovery and Resilience

Launched with the Government of South Sudan, the review argues that rapid urbanisation should be harnessed as a driver of stability, jobs and inclusive growth in a post-conflict setting.

Aleppo After War: The Municipal Vision Before 2011 and Why Urban Recovery Should Not Start from Scratch

Revisits Aleppo's pre-2011 municipal planning vision and argues that post-war recovery should build on it rather than start from a blank slate.

Navigating Urban Futures: Canal Istanbul and Contested Visions of Governance in Turkey

Uses the Canal Istanbul megaproject to examine competing visions of urban governance and the future of the city.

(Food) Justice in the Interim? Temporary Urban Gardening, Welfare Activation, and Plural Valuation

Explores temporary urban gardening projects at the intersection of food justice, welfare activation policies and the plural ways such spaces are valued.

Big Cities Outlook 2026

Building on Cities Outlook 2026, this report examines the economic performance of the UK's big cities outside London and how growth, jobs and housing could raise living standards.

World Cities Report 2026: The Global Housing Crisis – Pathways to Action

UN-Habitat's flagship biennial report, launched at the 13th World Urban Forum in Baku, is devoted to the worldwide housing crisis and how planning, governance and finance can respond.

Global patterns of urban heat shaped by climate and morphology

Separates the heat-island contribution of background climate from that of surrounding urban form across 2,213 cities and projects how each will change.

Trees halve urban heat island effect globally but unequal benefits only modestly mitigate climate-change warming

A global estimate of how much existing urban tree canopy lowers air temperature in 8,919 large cities, and how far trees can offset future climate warming.

Urban transport as a social construct: Theory, evidence, and analytical threads

A conceptual piece that treats urban transport as socially constructed, reviewing theory and evidence and setting out analytical threads for research.

Metro Monitor 2026: The relationship between immigration and regional economic performance over the past decade

Brookings compares how the 196 largest US metro areas performed from 2014 to 2024 and relates growth, prosperity and inclusion outcomes to changes in the foreign-born share of the workforce.

Understanding variation in neighbourhood environmental inequalities: The influence of residential segregation, gentrification, and other city-level factors

Asks why neighbourhood exposure to environmental burdens such as air and noise pollution or missing green space differs between cities, testing segregation, gentrification and other city-level factors.

Urban Amenities in Chinese Cities: A Geographical Analysis of Social Group Disparities

A geographical analysis of how access to urban amenities differs between social groups in Chinese cities.

Large-scale measurement of street interface transparency based on street view data and deep learning: A study of first-tier cities in China (Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou)

Proposes a method to measure how transparent street-level building frontages are, at scale, using open street view images and deep learning in three Chinese megacities.

Cities Outlook 2026

The 19th annual health check of 63 UK cities covers productivity, housing, skills and employment, with a 2026 focus on how disposable incomes and deprivation vary across urban Britain.

Street View Imagery Analysis in a Computational Notebook

A hands-on methods chapter showing how to download street view images and apply deep convolutional networks to detect and measure features of the built environment, in a reproducible notebook.