Research Pillars
Urban Life
How are cities sensed and experienced, and how might the ideals of inclusion and belonging be more attainable for some people than they are others? This pillar explores the question of what makes cities (un)liveable places. It also explores how specific cultures of urban place-making might contribute to urban diversity and the vibrancy of the city, whilst simultaneously causing patterns of socio-spatial segregation to perpetuate.
Urban Growth
How is value created and stored within cities, and how might the logics of competition and innovation lead to new challenges of governance and regulation in the age of environmental disruption? This pillar explores the question of how urban economies create new forms of co-dependency across the public and private sectors, and between cities and regions. It also explores the outcomes of growth, and how the concentration of resources can drive socio-spatial inequalities and injustices, and the challenges of risk creation as urban growth interacts with sustainability challenges.
Urban Infrastructure
How are cities enabled and constrained by their infrastructures, and how might infrastructural development create new ways of enhancing or streamlining urban processes, but also new politics of access and control? This pillar explores the question of how hard (or material) and soft (or socio-cultural, economic, legal-regulatory) infrastructures might affect urban resilience to hazards, and the connectivity between places that enable flows of people, goods, services, information and energy.