International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
Title	International Journal of Urban and Regional Research
Discipline	Urban studies, Regional studies
Abbreviation	IJURR
Publisher	Wiley-Blackwell
Frequency	Bimonthly
History	1977–present
Impact	(see Impact and reception)
Website	(publisher site)

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research is a peer-reviewed academic journal publishing research on urban and regional processes, policy, and theory. Founded in the late 1970s, the journal has engaged scholars from diverse traditions including Marxist, feminist, postcolonial, and neoliberal critiques. It connects debates among practitioners and academics from cities such as London, New York City, Paris, Mumbai, and Johannesburg and institutions including University of California, Berkeley, London School of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford, and University of Toronto.

History

The journal was established amid intellectual shifts that included debates involving David Harvey, Manuel Castells, Henri Lefebvre, Saskia Sassen, and Doreen Massey and responded to urban crises observed in cities like Detroit, Manchester, São Paulo, Mexico City, and Hong Kong. Early editorial boards featured scholars associated with King's College London, University of Manchester, University of Cambridge, Columbia University, and University of California, Los Angeles. During the 1980s and 1990s it engaged with policy networks linked to United Nations Human Settlements Programme, World Bank, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and debates following the Thatcher ministry and Reagan administration. Later histories connect the journal to movements around Occupy Wall Street, Zapatista Army of National Liberation, Anti-globalization Summit protests, and scholarly responses to events such as the 1994 Zapatista uprising, the 2008 financial crisis, and the Arab Spring.

Scope and topics

The journal publishes work on urbanization processes, regional development, spatial justice, housing, migration, infrastructure, and governance with case studies from regions including Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, East Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. It draws on theoretical traditions linked to figures such as Antonio Gramsci, Walter Benjamin, Pierre Bourdieu, Max Weber, and Immanuel Wallerstein and engages empirical work centered on sites like Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, Lagos, Cairo, and Istanbul. The scope covers interactions with institutions like European Union, African Union, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and regulatory regimes shaped by treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and policies associated with European Central Bank interventions. Topics include urban social movements (e.g., studies referencing Movimento Sem Terra, Landless Workers' Movement), housing struggles seen in São Paulo, transport infrastructures exemplified by Crossrail, energy transitions linked to COP conferences, and environmental hazards evident in Hurricane Katrina and Tohoku earthquake and tsunami research.

Editorial structure and peer review

Editorial leadership has included scholars from University College London, University of Warwick, University of Edinburgh, University of Pennsylvania, and Australian National University. The journal operates with an editor-in-chief, associate editors, and an international editorial board with members from institutions such as Peking University, University of Cape Town, National University of Singapore, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and Aalto University. Peer review is anonymized and relies on referees drawn from networks including American Sociological Association, Royal Geographical Society, Association of American Geographers, Planning Research Network, and scholarly groups active at conferences like International Planning History Society and Urban Affairs Association. Special issue proposals are often overseen by guest editors affiliated with centers such as Balsillie School of International Affairs, Brookings Institution, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and Tampere University.

Impact and reception

The journal's influence is reflected in citations across literature from scholars like Edward Glaeser, Neil Smith, Jane Jacobs, Sharon Zukin, and Mike Davis and in policy circles at United Nations, World Bank, European Commission, and municipal governments in Barcelona and Seoul. It has been critiqued and praised in debates published in journals such as Environment and Planning A, Progress in Human Geography, Antipode, Cities, and Regional Studies. The journal's metrics are discussed in relation to indexing services managed by Clarivate Analytics and databases curated by Scopus and ProQuest. Reception includes recognition through citations in reports from UN-Habitat, OECD, and the International Monetary Fund and discussion in media outlets such as The Guardian, The New York Times, and Le Monde.

Notable articles and special issues

Landmark articles have connected urban theory to empirical cases including pieces on neoliberalization in Chicago, gentrification studies in Brooklyn, and analyses of informality in Mumbai and Lima. Special issues have addressed themes such as urban governance and crisis drawing contributors associated with Zygmunt Bauman, Loïc Wacquant, Gillian Hart, Ananya Roy, and Tom Slater. The journal has published influential debates on austerity policies connected to Greek debt crisis, climate adaptation referenced in IPCC discussions, and migration linked to events such as Syrian Civil War displacements and the Balkan migration route.

Abstracting and indexing

The journal is abstracted and indexed in major services including Web of Science, Scopus, Social Sciences Citation Index, EBSCOhost, ProQuest, and JSTOR. Libraries catalog it alongside collections from British Library, Library of Congress, National Library of Australia, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and university repositories at Harvard University, Yale University, University of Chicago, Stanford University, and University of Melbourne.

Category:Urban studies and planning journals