LibGuides: Urban Studies: Research Databases

Research databases at Brown

Below are some of the most useful databases for Urban Studies, organized by major disciplines. The ones that are most useful to you will vary depending upon your research project. Please don't hesitate to contact Karen Bouchard if you need help navigating these many resources.

Urban Studies

Urban Studies Abstracts
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1973-present; Urban Studies Abstracts includes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline. The index contains more than 51,600 records, which are carefully selected from the most important sources within the discipline, such as Urban Affairs Review, Urban studies, and the Journal of Urban Affairs.

Architecture

Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
1930-present; (with selected coverage back to late 19th century) the Avery Index treats architecture and related subjects, such as city planning, historic preservation, and interior design.
SAH Archipedia
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Authoritative online encyclopedia of the built world published by the Society of Architectural Historians and the University of Virginia Press.

BuildingGreen.com
Current; designed to help building-industry professionals and policy makers improve the environmental performance and reduce the adverse impacts, of buildings. Both print and electronic resources are available to help design and build construction projects from a whole-systems perspective and take an integrated design approach that minimizes ecological impact and maximizes economic performance. BuildingGreen.com publishes Environmental Building News, the GreenSpec directory of green products, and the BuildingGreen Suite of online tools.
US Modernist Library
Open digital collection of major US 20th century architecture magazines. Browsable, searchable and downloadable.

Environmental & Other Sciences

Environment Index
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Current; The Environment Index provides abstract/index information for over 1000 titles in the area of environmental policy and studies. The product has an Environment thesaurus that will assist users in research.

BuildingGreen.com
Current; designed to help building-industry professionals and policy makers improve the environmental performance and reduce the adverse impacts, of buildings. Both print and electronic resources are available to help design and build construction projects from a whole-systems perspective and take an integrated design approach that minimizes ecological impact and maximizes economic performance. BuildingGreen.com publishes Environmental Building News, the GreenSpec directory of green products, and the BuildingGreen Suite of online tools.

GreenFILE
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Current; GreenFILE indexes scholarly and general interest titles, as well as government documents and reports. This resource offers a unique perspective on the positive and negative ways humans affect the environment. Drawing on the connection between the environment and disciplines such as agriculture, education, law, health and technology, GreenFILE serves as an informative resource for anyone concerned about the issues facing our planet.
History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
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1975-present; this database indexes journal articles, conference proceedings, books, book reviews, and dissertations in the history of science, technology, and medicine and allied historical fields. The database integrates four bibliographies: the Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science, the Current Bibliography in the History of Technology (Technology and Culture), the Bibliografia Italiana di Storia della Scienza and the Wellcome Library for the History and Understanding of Medicine.

History

Ancestry Library
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With more than 1.5 billion names in over 4,000 databases, Ancestry Library includes records from the United States Census; military records; court, land and probate records; vital and church records; directories; passenger lists and more!
America: History and Life
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1954-present; article abstracts and citations of reviews and dissertations on the history and culture of the United States and Canada.
Historical Abstracts
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1954-present; article abstracts and citations of books and dissertations on the history of the world from 1450 to the present. Excludes the U. S. and Canada.

Multidisciplinary

Academic Search Premier
Current; multidisciplinary full text database, designed for the academic community. Includes full text coverage for just under 4,700 journals, including 3,600 peer-reviewed journals.
FRANCIS
1972-2015; through an international perspective, FRANCIS provides citations to interdisciplinary materials for the humanities and social sciences.
Web Of Science
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1900-present; The Web of Science includes the three ISI citation indexes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Social Science Citation Index, and Science Citation Index.

Social Sciences/Policy

EconLit
1969-present; a comprehensive index to the worldwide literature on economics compiled by the American Economic Association from over 300 major economics journals.
PAIS Index
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1914-present; includes periodicals, books, hearings, reports, gray literature, government publications, and Internet resources. Subjects include politics, public policy, government, international relations, law and ethics, human rights, economics, business, finance, and other social sciences.
Policy File Index
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1900-present; Policy File Index is a unique resource for U.S. public policy research in that it grants users access to timely, updated information from over 350 public policy think tanks, nongovernmental organizations, research institutes, university centres, advocacy groups, and other entities. Over 75 public policy topics are covered, from foreign policy to domestic policy. The majority of Policy File Index records link directly to the full-text report, paper, document, or other source.
SocINDEX with Full Text
1895-present; SocINDEX with Full Text is a comprehensive sociology research database. This product contains informative abstracts for more than 620 "core" coverage journals dating back to 1895.

Statistics

World Development Indicators
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Current; published by the World Bank, WDI contains statistical data for over 550 development indicators and time series data from 1960-2003 for over 200 countries and 18 country groups. Data includes social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators.