In order to get an insight into the research progress of sports towns in China, and be fully aware of the theoretical needs and the practical development direction of the sports towns, so as to provide a reference for further researches on sports towns, this article systematically summarizes the current studies on sports towns mainly using methods of literature review, field investigation, and methods of bibliometrics and visualization. It's revealed that the current studies mainly focus on the background and significance, concept definition, types and development impetus, case studies and international experience references, existing problems and countermeasures, financing models, evaluation system, as well as government functions under construction. It is concluded that the scholars have conducted researches from diverse perspectives and are concerned about rich contents with both theoretical research and practical analysis, which has laid foundation for the future studies. Finally it is pointed out that with high-quality development in the new era, the topics, including the economic, social and cultural performance of sports towns abroad, sports towns and poverty alleviation strategies, rural revitalization strategies and high-quality development call for further studies. |