Urban governance and management: An analytical study of foundational works, conceptual structures, and themes' evolution (1900-2025)

Urban governance and management refer to the processes that organize urban development. It integrates community participation and effective management to address challenges like spending, corruption, and political conflict to build a resilient, sustainable future. There is only one review of urban governance; it doesn't cover all aspects. Previous efforts have been fragmented, focusing on specific issues while neglecting others. Therefore, this study presents a bibliometric analysis of 9510 documents from Scopus and Web of Science databases (1900-2025). The analysis identifies the foundational and intellectual works in the field and scrutinizes the conceptual framework that influences urban governance and management. It explores the themes' evolution and the influencing factors. Analysis resulted in five clusters: “urban governance," “metropolitan governance," “smart city governance," “urban management," and “city governance and resilient planning." This process identified future directions. The findings suggest a potential lack of applied research targeting developing countries, accompanied by a noticeable concentration on European and American cities, which accordingly directs future research trajectories. Future research could focus on the interplay between governance and technology to promote justice in developing cities. Furthermore, subsequent future studies could also focus on integrating artificial intelligence into urban governance across all levels, prioritizing the investigation of the technology's potential security and privacy risks. The study concludes with valuable references for urban planners and policymakers to govern a sustainable future.