Springer launches interdisciplinary portal on urban studies

New content portal inspires sustainable and innovative initiatives for urban areas

Heidelberg | Dordrecht, 31 October 2018

To meet the changing needs of the research community, Springer has significantly expanded its urban studies publication programme and set up a specially dedicated urban studies portal. The portal compiles a comprehensive collection of books, open access publications, journal articles and reference works related to urban studies and is now available on springer.com.

The United Nations estimates that 60 per cent of the world’s population will live in cities by 2030, and research arising from this unprecedented rate of urban development has led to a rapid increase in the volume of urban studies publications in recent years.

This new portal aims to bring all Springer publications related to urban studies together in one place so that industry, academia and policymakers can gain a clear overview of important literature in the field. In addition to showcasing 25 book series, six journals and eight special works, the portal also features 470 books, 23 selected open access articles, and 13 open access books. Interviews with leading researchers and information about publishing options for authors are also included. Topics broadly encompass urban planning, urban geography, land use, urban development, urban design, urban health, urban energy, urban governance and smart urban technologies. 

Professor Katherine Hankins of the Department of Geosciences at Georgia State University in the US said: “The majority of the planet’s population now lives in cities, and cities are the incubators of human creativity and innovation. It is a positive development to see that publishers are responding to this trend by increasing the volume of urban studies literature, and making it easier to find the most relevant information quickly.”

“As cities grow and develop, we are forced to rethink our ways of living to ensure that the challenges that come hand in hand with urbanization such as pollution, inequality or diseases are addressed. Publishers play an active role in providing peer-reviewed research as a platform for objective-setting, planning and tackling emerging issues. We are very happy to be able to offer our communities the most relevant publications in one place,” explained Juliana Pitanguy, Earth Sciences and Geography Publishing Editor at Springer.