Water-energy nexus in cities: knowledge structure and implications for SDG 6 and 7 through bibliometric analysis

Ramos Farroñán E.V.; Mogollón García F.S.; Durand Gonzales E.J.; Pichis García R.A.H.; Gallardo Cerón B.N. · Energy Nexus (2026) · DOI: 10.1016/j.nexus.2026.100786

Resumen

The urban water-energy nexus has gained increasing scholarly attention over the past decade, yet its knowledge structure remains fragmented across disciplines, geographies, and intellectual traditions. This study analyzes the scientific production on the water-energy nexus in cities during the period 2011–2025 through an integrated methodological approach combining a PRISMA 2020 systematic review with bibliometric analysis using the Bibliometrix R-package. A total of 1770 records were identified from four databases (Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and Taylor & Francis), and after duplicate removal, screening, and quality assessment by three independent reviewers (κ = 0.87), 67 Q1 articles were included in the final corpus. Six bibliometric techniques were triangulated: word cloud, three-field plot, keyword co-occurrence network, strategic thematic map, co-citation network, and content analysis. Results reveal three evolutionary phases (emergence, growth, and consolidation), a pronounced geographic concentration in China confirmed across multiple analytical dimensions, four thematic clusters with weak inter-cluster linkages, five intellectual communities operating along scarcely crossed boundaries two of them peripheral and isolated from the core (modularity Q = 0.446), and a critical paradox whereby the most central theme (urban water-energy integration) is simultaneously the least theoretically mature. Five structural gaps with direct implications for SDG 6 and SDG 7 were identified: institutional fragmentation, nascent technological convergence, insufficient climate resilience modeling, analytical exclusion of equity considerations, and compartmentalized carbon-nexus accounting. Building on these findings, and as a conceptual synthesis derived from bibliometric and content analysis rather than an empirically validated governance model, an Integrated Urban Water-Energy Nexus Governance Framework is proposed, comprising five dimensions and nine policy mechanisms. The framework translates each identified gap into specific governance instruments with explicit SDG-target alignment and constitutes a roadmap for subsequent empirical validation, distinguishing this study from previous bibliometric reviews that remained at the descriptive mapping level.

Instituciones: Universidad César Vallejo