The literature on the urban environment, health, and well-being has steadily increased over the last decade. This paper aims to offer a better understanding of the state of the literature on assessing the urban environment and health through mapping the field of research through a scoping review and illuminating emerging trends and future research using keyword frequency and bibliometric analysis. Uniquely, this study drew 495 articles from four distinct journal databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ProQuest), whereas traditional bibliometric analyses draw from a single source. By drawing from a broader base of knowledge, this study offers a more holistic view of the trends in the field of research on the connection between urban environments and well-being to better identify future research pathways. The results show trends of a consistent increase in research on the topic over the last decade. Research published on this topic is fragmented, with consistent but isolated focus on physical health, mental health, and environmental characteristics. Overall, in this field, physical health is most often assessed in relationship to the urban built environment, while mental health is most often assessed in connection to the urban natural environment. This paper also provides information on influential authors in this field of research. This study concludes by highlighting gaps and making recommendations for future research in the field. Prominent gaps are related to using interdisciplinary and scalable approaches to understanding the relationship between urban environments and overall well-being.
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