Research Hotspots and Future Trends in Canal-Related Industrial Buildings

During the early stages of the Industrial Revolution, canals played a crucial role in facilitating the rapid development of factories. Despite economic downturns and the rise of alternative transportation towards the end of the last century, canals have been experiencing a resurgence in recent years, driven by the principles of sustainable development. To gain a deeper understanding of global academic research focus and current trends, this paper systematically reviews publications related to canal-related industrial buildings from 1997 to 22 January 2024. Using the bibliometric software CiteSpace 6.3.1, information such as countries, institutions, authors, keywords, and references from 96 selected articles in the Web of Science (WoS) database was visualized and analyzed. The results reveal that the current research hotspots in this field mainly focus on five clusters: “stakeholders”, “green spaces”, “conservation areas”, “industrial heritage”, and “energy-efficient reconstruction”. The most popular research topics concerning canal-related industrial buildings are “urban renewal”, “industrial heritage”, “climate change”, and “heritage tourism”, with most themes closely linked to sustainable development. However, it is observed that there is still a lack of a systematic research framework in this field. Most studies originate from heritage management and conservation, landscape rejuvenation along canals, and canal water resource management, while systematic research on canal-related industrial buildings remains limited. Based on these findings, this study proposes future trends and potential research directions in this field, aiming to provide researchers with a comprehensive understanding of the status and to support the sustainable preservation and management of industrial buildings and heritage along canals with a more systematic research framework.