Global research on urban density and health: A bibliometric analysis of trends, themes, and research priorities

Urban density is a central concern in urban design and public health, yet evidence on its relationships with health is dispersed across disciplines. This study used bibliometric methods to map the global research landscape on urban density and health, and to identify publication trends, themes, key contributors, and research priorities. A search of the Web of Science Core Collection in May 2025 combined terms for density, health, and urban context. English-language articles and reviews were screened, cleaned, and analysed. Performance analysis and science mapping techniques, including co-authorship, co-citation, and keyword co-occurrence, were conducted using VOSviewer. The dataset comprised 1,670 publications published between 1965 and 2025, with marked growth after 2019. Research output was concentrated in high-income countries, particularly the Global North, with no African country among the most productive contributors. Frequently co-cited sources showed a multidisciplinary field spanning public health, urban design, and physical activity research. Keyword analysis identified nine clusters. Built environment, walkability, and physical activity formed the core. Green space and metabolic health appeared as a distinct but less prominent cluster. These findings show that density-health research has been organised mainly around built environment and movement-related pathways. Psychosocial, environmental exposure, and equity-related pathways remain less integrated. For urban health practice, the findings identify evidence gaps that are relevant to policy and planning. These patterns indicate a need for broader geographical coverage, stronger attention to non-mobility and psychosocial pathways, clearer and more comparable density measures, and deeper cross-disciplinary integration to generate evidence that can better inform healthy densification policies.