Understanding the dynamics of urban just transitions: An interdisciplinary analysis with latent dirichlet allocation (LDA)

Despite the presence of literature on just transitions in cities, the knowledge gap exists in analyzing the evolving trends and trajectories of justice themes in urban transitions. This study develops a comprehensive analytical framework to identify the emerging research trends related to urban just transition by using LDA. Based on the socio-ecological-technological system (SETS) analytical framework and justice-related theoretical frameworks, this research examines the evolving characteristics and prominent issues in existing studies on just transition in urban contexts. We find that the E-T dimension within SETS is receiving increasing attention from researchers, while the inclusiveness and restorativeness dimensions within urban justice are more specifically analyzed. The study not only identifies the complex trends and dynamic changes in the process of urban just transition but also identifies key research areas for future investigations. It provides scholars and practitioners in the field of urban transformation with valuable insights and references, aiming to foster the development of more sustainable and just urban areas. • Employed natural language processing techniques for analyzing the urban just transformation research from 1993 to 2023. • Analysis was conducted with a developed socio-ecological-technological system (SETs) conceptual model. • The evolving characteristics in existing studies on just transition in urban contexts were analyzed. • Insights and references derived from the results were proposed for sustainable urban management policies.