Beyond Green Cities: A Global Review of Biophilic Urbanism

Biophilic urbanism is increasingly positioned as an important approach for linking urban nature, public health, climate resilience and spatial equity. However, its development within planning- and design-oriented scholarship remains uneven, with limited clarity on how biophilic principles are operationalised, evaluated and translated into practice. This study screened 479 peer-reviewed records and analysed a final corpus of 201 English-language studies indexed in Web of Science and Scopus through bibliometric mapping and structured full-text content analysis. The review examines publication trends, collaboration patterns, geographic distribution, design typologies, spatial scales, climatic contexts, target populations, methodological approaches and evaluation metrics. Findings show that the reviewed literature is dominated by Global North research production, meso- and macro-scale interventions, visible greening strategies, qualitative approaches and survey-based evidence. Climate responsiveness, target-population specificity, participatory methods, economic valuation and performance-based evaluation remain comparatively underdeveloped within the reviewed literature. The study contributes a replicable review framework and identifies five research priorities: diversifying geographic representation, embedding climate-responsive evaluation, expanding methodological toolkits, foregrounding equity and participation, and strengthening institutional and policy integration. By clarifying both the potential and the current limitations of biophilic urbanism research, the paper positions the field as a promising but still maturing pathway for advancing climate-resilient, health-promoting and socially just urban environments.