Urban observatories represent today a global phenomenon. In the last decades, public actors, universities and civil society actors have established hundreds of urban observatories all around the world. Some of these observatories actively contribute to the analysis of urban dynamics and affect urban policy making. However, urban observatories are still understudied; the scientific literature on urban observatories is rare and culturally fragmented. This article seeks to contribute to the development of a body of knowledge on urban observatories, by proposing a typology of urban observatories that stress the potential impacts and contributions of four different archetypes on urban and territorial planning and management.