Centre for Researching Cities

Our Mission

Cities are the concentration of social, infrastructural, and economic activity in space. Defined by density, proximity, and juxtaposition, cities act as accelerators of change. They concentrate vulnerabilites and amplify inequalities. These attributes put cities in the forefront of efforts to address overarching societal and global challenges.

These challenges do not simply happen in cities. Cities exacerbate or ease them.

We have a unique understanding of cities which brings together urban systems and technologies with social and spatial governance and justice.

The purpose of the Centre for Researching Cities is to add value by harnessing and integrating Newcastle University’s existing world- class expertise in urban research to better address these pressing multi-disciplinary and international challenges. Developing a unique understanding of cities as complex and open systems, the Centre will bring together research on urban systems and technologies with work on social and spatial governance and justice. Its scope is necessarily broad, reflecting the cross-cutting nature of cities as research objects, alongside the diverse and complementary strengths of cities research at Newcastle.

Rather than seeking to incorporate the range of research topics and questions that may be located in cities, the Centre is focused on research about cities, advancing cities research both theoretically and empirically and addressing distinct urban challenges and themes.

Our mission is to harness and integrate our world-class expertise in urban research, to better address these pressing multidisciplinary and international challenges. We want to work on cities, with cities and for cities to envisage and enable just, inclusive and sustainable urban futures.