Redai dili (May 2023)

Hotspots and Trends of Foreign Spatial Justice Research: Visual Analysis Based on Knowledge Map

  • Lin Lin,
  • Chao Heng,
  • Li Guicai

DOI
https://doi.org/10.13284/j.cnki.rddl.003296
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 43, no. 5
pp. 808 – 820

Abstract

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The issue of "spatial justice" has become a hot topic among urban research and planning scholars in China. An analysis of 1516 English-language documents in the Web of Science (WOS) from 2000-2021 was conducted through CiteSpace. Knowledge maps of keyword clustering, core author groups, and research institutions were mapped to reveal the hotspots and trends of foreign spatial justice research. The results reveal the following: (1) Foreign literature issuance exhibits a phased upward trend, divided into three stages of exploration (S1), stabilization (S2), and explosion (S3). The publication volume increased steadily in S1, contending and flourishing around the theme of space deprivation, exclusion and poverty. The publication volume has increased significantly in S2 compared with S1, the connotation of spatial justice is gradually clear and complete, environmental justice has received significant attention, and the influence of process and procedural justice is increasing. The spatial justice research has explosively grown in S3, focusing on the value effect and practical significance of spatial justice in the post-globalization era and stock development period. (2) A total of three hotspots emerged in foreign spatial justice research: The rise of research targeting youth and children, who have become one of the main actors and are motivated by awareness and environmental change to actively participate in the fight for justice on a global scale. Environmental justice research is booming with divergent and extended content, focusing on waste trade and climate change. The public and green spaces of the city have become research hotspots as the pursuit of spatial justice value turns to high quality and sustainability. (3) Trends in spatial justice research abroad include integration of environmental justice and urban space, as well as scale synthesis and thematic expansion driven by technological progress. In general, the maturation of foreign spatial justice research provides an important reference for the theoretical construction and practical application of spatial justice in China. How to connect with the international frontier, form research results with local characteristics, and effectively implement them in current spatial practice in the context of new urbanization is an urgent issue to be solved.

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