Use books to develop a solid understanding of your topic, and journal articles to support your thesis, and to survey the latest research in your area. Get started on your research with this quick step-by-step guide

Books

Use the SFU Library Catalogue to find books. Search by title or author, or search by keyword for books on a topic. For tips on effective searching, use the SFU Library Catalogue Search Guide

Sample Subject headings:

Cities and Towns - British Columbia
Vancouver (B.C.) -- History

See also: New books in Urban Studies

Journal Articles

Search Databases to find articles on your topic. Selected important databases for Urban Studies are listed below. For additional databases that may be relevant to research in this area, please see this list of databases for Urban Studies

Canada Commons.
Canadian public policy documents from government and nonprofit organizations as well as think tanks

CBCA Complete
News, current events business and academic research produced in Canada

Canadian Newsstream
including local Canadian newspapers

ECONLIT 
Economics journal articles and working papers

Environment Complete
Topics in sustainability

GEOBASE 
Human and physical geography

Sociological Abstracts 
Sociology research

TRID Online 
Transportation research

Web of Science
Indexes major urban studies journals

Key journals for Urban Studies

(peer-reviewed unless otherwise indicated)

• Berkeley Planning Journal "innovative and research-oriented articles written by emerging scholars"
• Built environment "each issue focusing on a single subject of contemporary interest and relevance to practitioners, academics and students"
• Cityscape : a journal of policy development and research "original research on housing and community development issues to scholars, government officials, and practitioners" not pr
• Environment & planning B: Planning & design "method application and spatial problems in built environments, with specialisation in new approaches to generating and evaluating plans and policies"
• Environment and urbanization "research findings, ideas and information in the fields of human settlements and environment"
• European urban and regional studies "urban and regional development in Europe"
• International journal of urban and regional research "urban and regional research...linking theoretical development and empirical research"
• Journal of planning education and research "planning theory, planning practice, and planning pedagogy"
• Journal of urban health "evidence-based action to strengthen programs, policies, and governance of cities worldwide to improve health" 
• Journal of urban technology "political, economic, environmental, social, aesthetic, and ethical effects of urban technologies"
• Local government studies "study of local politics, policy, public administration and management and governance" 
• Public Policy and Administration "public policy, public administration, government, public management, administrative theory, administrative history, and administrative politics" not pr
• Urban affairs review "politics, governance, and public policy specifically as they relate to cities and/or their regions"
• Urban ecosystems "the ecology of urban environments, and policy implications"
• Urban geography "problem-oriented current research by geographers and other social scientists on urban policy"
• Urban history "research articles covering social, economic, political and cultural aspects of the history of towns and Cities" not pr
• Urban policy and research "urban studies and urban policy for those with an interest in Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region"
• Urban review "issues basic to the improvement of urban schooling and education"
• Urban studies " the cutting edge of academic research about cities"

See also Online journals for Urban Studies