Emerging Trends and Research Hotspots in Digital Public Spaces

Digital public spaces have become a prominent area of research as societies are adopting the fusion of physical and digital realms with smart city initiatives, immersive technologies, and human-centered design. This study aims to identify and analyze evolving trends in digital public space research through a bibliometric analysis. 610 articles between the years 2012 and 2021 were retrieved from the Scopus database and analyzed with VOSviewer through co-authorship and keyword co-occurrence mapping. The results indicate a steady increase of research activity over the last decade, concentrated mainly in Western countries, and identify seven principal thematic clusters: public space, social media, human–computer interaction, urban planning, digital technologies, augmented reality, and smart city research. The study also illustrates a shift away from technologically focused discourse and in the direction of more holistic and human-centered positions, while revealing gaps and potential novelty in connecting currently unconnected clusters, such as architectural design, digital placemaking, and human-centered inquiry. The findings contribute to an understanding of the intellectual structure of the field and suggest fruitful directions for the creation of more inclusive and context-sensitive digital public spaces.