Geospatial Technologies in Managing Urban Cascading and Compound Disasters: A Bibliometric Review

Abstract. Urban environments face increasingly complex disaster scenarios involving cascading and compound events, yet most research focuses on isolated hazards. While geospatial technologies have advanced significantly, their integration into urban planning for multi-hazard scenarios remains poorly understood. This bibliometric study examines geospatial research on urban cascading and compound disasters from 2000 to 2025, analysing publication trends, hazard combinations, technology adoption patterns, and integration with urban planning. A systematic search identified 235 papers from Scopus and Web of Science and a bibliometric analysis was conducted using Bibliometrix and VOSviewer. Results reveal exponential growth, with 74% of publications appearing between 2020 and 2025. Research remains concentrated in Asia, Europe, and North America, with vulnerable regions like Latin America underrepresented. Hazard analysis shows a strong bias toward rapid-onset geophysical cascades (earthquake-landslide, flood-landslide, and earthquake-tsunami). In contrast, slow-onset combinations such as fire-drought and volcanic cascades remain critically understudied. Geospatial technology adoption follows a clear pattern: spatial data integration frameworks, particularly Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS), dominate the literature, followed by data acquisition and observation technologies, particularly Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), while computational and analytical environments such as Google Earth Engine (GEE) remain emerging. Most critically, only 11% of papers integrate geospatial approaches with urban planning processes, revealing a significant research-practice disconnect. Despite advances in hazard detection and modelling, operational translation into zoning regulations, building codes, and infrastructure planning remains limited. This gap is particularly concerning in dense urban systems, where cascading disasters intensify and integrated geospatial planning frameworks are most urgently needed.