Journal Articles

The best place to start searching for journal articles is in one of the following databases, which collect publications from sociology, political science and policy studies, economics, and a range of other disciplines that contribute to the field of urban studies:

You can also try browsing individual journals in the field. Some of the most frequently cited include:

Gray Literature

For policy papers and other publications by international relations and foreign policy think tanks, try our HKS Think Tank Search, a custom Google search across the websites of 1,200+ U.S. and international think tanks. 

Simply search using standard Google conventions (i.e. putting quotation marks around phrases):

 

Among the think tanks included, some are particularly useful for research in urban studies and urban policy:
Finally, try this database for more policy briefs, working papers, etc.:

Books

To find books at Harvard, search HOLLIS, our library catalog:

 
For help with HOLLIS, see the HOLLIS User Guide.

If your results seem very "noisy," try searching by subject headings (under the advanced search tab), for example:

  • Sociology, Urban
  • Urban policy (you can add the name of a country after this heading for even more specific results)
  • Community development, Urban
  • Urban economics
  • City planning

Related Research Guides

For additional resources in closely related fields, check the following research guides, curated by librarians across Harvard Library: