Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech conducts basic and applied research on national and international development patterns, focusing on key forces shaping metropolitan growth such as demographics, environment, technology, design, transportation, and governance. Professional specializations include environmental planning and policy; land use and physical development planning; housing, community and economic development; and international development planning.
Getting started with academic research | Overview of urban affairs and planning | Recommended databases
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals indexes citations, abstracts, and full-text articles in architecture and design from American and international scholarly and trade journals, popular magazines, and publications of professional organizations. In addition, this database also provides citation records for architects' obituaries. Full text, when available, is in PDF and HTML. 1800s-present.
EconLit indexes citations and abstracts from articles, books, book chapters, dissertations, and the full text of book reviews and working papers on economic theory and application. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. 1969-present.
PAIS International indexes citations and abstracts to journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, and Internet material on all aspects of international affairs and politics. Newspapers and newsletters are not indexed. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources.1914-present.
ASSIA is an index of citations and abstracts to journal articles in the social sciences and education, economics, and health fields. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. 1987-present.
Environment Complete indexes citations, abstracts, and full-text articles from journals, conference proceedings, and books on the agricultural, biological, social science, and technological aspects of the environment. Full text available in HTML and PDF. You can limit to peer-reviewed journals. 1888-present.
ULI Development Case Studies provides full-text case studies describing the development process of building projects (in HTML). Studies include general descriptions, contact information for the development team, the building site's background and history, special features of the project, what did and did not work on the project, key facts and figures, and photos of the site or floor plans. 1981-present. Limited to simultaneous user.