Tropical cyclones increasingly threaten coastal cities, yet why recovery outcomes diverge across places remain poorly synthesized. Here we examine the determinants of post-cyclone urban recovery through a bibliometric-systematic review of 117 peer-reviewed empirical studies published between 2005 and 2025. Combining bibliometric mapping with full-text qualitative synthesis, we assess research trends, recovery drivers, and remaining knowledge gaps. The corpus has grown in visibility and methodological diversity, with increasing use of high-resolution geospatial, mobility and computational approaches to trace recovery across space and time. The synthesis shows that recovery trajectories emerge from interactions between hazard-impact conditions and five capacity-side dimensions: social equity, economic resources, infrastructure vulnerability, institutional capacity and community adaptability. However, the evidence remains geographically concentrated and dominated by single-event designs, fragmented recovery measurement and limited causal inference. We therefore identify three priorities for future research: cross-event and cross-regional comparison, integrated multi-source monitoring, and causal and nonlinear analysis of recovery mechanisms. By linking research trends with a structured framework of recovery determinants, this review advances understanding of why post-cyclone urban recovery diverges across places, while informing more adaptive and equitable resilience planning in cyclone-prone cities.




