Environmental Design Library
City Planning Indexes & Abstracts

Here is a selective list of indexes and abstracts of articles and other publications on city and regional planning topics. For indexes with an international focus please see International Planning. For newspaper indexes and databases please see News Databases.  See also Environmental Planning Indexes & Abstracts. Given the interdisciplinary nature of city and regional planning, there are additional indexes to segments of this field available via the Doe Reference Center (2nd Floor, Doe Library), the Business & Economics Library, etc.

Please note that all the electronic indexes listed in this guide are also listed in The Library's directory of article databases. For additional information consult the Environmental Design Library reference staff, 210 Wurster Hall.

UC Berkeley faculty, registered students, and staff who are off campus may use items marked UCB Only by using The Library's proxy service or by installing the Connecting@Berkeley CD on their computer.

Last updated: 24 January 2008

Core Indexes | Complementary Indexes




Core Indexes

1. Avery index to architectural periodicals via CSA - UCB Only Contains citations to articles in 1,000+ periodicals in architecture, planning, urban design, and related disciplines.
Online ed.: 1890--. Paper ed.: 1890-1995; EnvDesign fNA8 C64 1973 Index
2. Business source premier via EBSCO - UCB Only  Includes full-text for more than 7,400 scholarly business journals and other sources, as well as country economic reports from the EIU, CountryWatch, etc. Great source for information on community economic development, housing development, redevelopment, and related issues.
Coverage: 1965--.
3. Expanded academic ASAP via Infotrac - UCB Only Indexes articles in more than 1,500 general interest journals and scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and general sciences. Abstracts and full text available for many titles indexed.
Coverage: 1980--.
4. Geography via SilverPlatter - UCB Only Excellent index. Covers the international literature in physical & human geography, regional community planning, etc., providing access to information from over 2,000 journals, monographs, books, conference proceedings reports, and theses.
Online ed.: 1990--.
Paper ed., in part: Geographical abstracts. Human geography (EnvDesign HT390 G41 1986-1988 Index;
EART G57 G464 1989--) and International Development Abstracts (Main Stack  HD82 I38 1982-1997)
5. Index to current urban documents - UCB Only NY: Greenwood Press. Online edition contains citations to and the full text (pdf format) of local government publications from approximately 500 selected cities and counties in the U.S. and Canada.  At the core of the collection are fiscal and planning documents, including city, county and regional plans. Also a good source of locally generated socioeconomic statistics, public health and social service planning, and business and physical infrastructure information. Contemporary subject headings for urban affairs (EnvDesign JS13 A12 M851 1983 Index) is a subject guide for older volumes of the Index and is shelved with it.

Online ed.: 2000--.

Paper ed.: 1972--; EnvDesign JS13 A12M85 Index & Doe Reference Center; Index & full text documents on microfiche in Institute of Governmental Studies Library

6. Indexes to the ... journal literature via EBSCO - UCB only In: International Regional Science Review. Each volume contains subject and author indexes to approximately 66 English-language planning and regional science journals.
Online ed.: 1999-; see the last issue of each volume. Paper ed.: EnvDesign HT390 I56 Periodical stacks
7. IngentaConnect - UCB Only Provides full-text access to domestic and international scholarly & academic publications. Excellent starting place, as many city planning journals are included.
   Coverage varies
8. Journal of planning literature via CSA - UCB Only  Columbus, OH: Sage Publications, Inc. Indexes 400+ journals and provides comprehensive coverage of the city and regional planning literature.
Online ed.: 1985--; paper ed.:  1985/86--; EnvDesign NA9000 J687 Index
9. Lexis-Nexis academic - UCB Only    Includes indexing to over 6,000 journals, newspapers, broadcast transcripts, & wire services. Full text. Offers wide geographic coverage and translations from foreign-language sources. Good for public policy and business issues.
Coverage varies
10. Planning literature information service (PLIS) . In: Planning practice + research. Very broad indexing of approximately 20 major English-language planning journals. Last section in each issue.
Online ed.: 1995--; paper ed.: Mar. 1987--; EnvDesign HT165.53 G7 P52
11. Research Library via ProQuest - UCB Only  Includes abstracts and indexing to more than 1,100 periodical titles, plus current coverage of New York Times articles. It includes some full text.
    Coverage varies
12. Sage urban studies abstracts. Selective abstracts of books, articles, speeches, government documents, etc., in the field of urban studies and comparative urban analysis. Scholarly.
Online ed.: 1998--; paper ed.: 1973--; EnvDesign HT101 S3 Index
13. Sociological abstracts via CSA - UCB Only Indexes journal articles, book chapters, & reviews from over 1,900 journals, books, book chapters, and reviews in the social sciences.  Excellent source for public policy topics.
Online ed.: 1963--; paper ed.: 1952--; Main HM15.5 S6
14. Urban affairs abstracts U.S. and English language emphasis. Covers periodicals, newsletters and journals focusing on municipal government and its administration. Broad range of topics, practical applications. Coverage: 1971-1994.
EnvDesign HT101 U66 Index
15. Urban studies & planning via CSA - UCB Only. Provides indexing to and full text of 12 journals published by SAGE Publications and participating societies, some journals going back 37 years.
Coverage varies
16. Web of science - UCB Only  Includes the Science Citation Index, which indexes 5,300 major journals across 164 science disciplines (coverage: 1945--) and the Social Sciences Citation Index, which indexes 1,700 journals across 50 social science disciplines, as well as individually selected items from over 3,300 leading scientific and technical journals. Also offers cited reference searching.
    Coverage: 1970--.