About Us
The Global Urban Research Centre (GURC) is a multidisciplinary centre that focuses on global urbanization, poverty, inequality and exclusion. It was established in 2007 as a cross-discipline initiative of the School of Environment and Development (SED). GURC draws on a wide range of research and teaching interests within the School, particularly from Planning and Landscape and the Institute of Development Policy and Management (IDPM), but also from other centres such as the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI) and the Manchester Architecture Research Centre (MARC).
GURC Director Caroline Moser, with two full-time Lecturers, Alfredo Stein and Melanie Lombard, are responsible for the interdisciplinary MSc Global Urban Development and Planning, and courses that the Centre runs for students across the School of Environment and Development, along with its PhD programme. GURC’s Honorary Research Fellows, based outside the university, are involved in collaborative research projects. The work of the Centre is supported by an Internal Advisory Group with members from Planning and IDPM, and a wider network of Research Associates within the University of Manchester.
GURC’s critical importance relates to the challenges of an increasingly urban world. More than half the world’s population now lives in urban areas, making urbanization one of the most important global phenomena of the 21st century. Issues such as poverty, inequality and exclusion in the urban environment are compounded by the effects of globalization and climate change in cities of the global South. The success for future global citizens will depend not only on their capacity to find opportunities in the world’s towns and cities, but also in their strategies to adapt to new conditions created by these phenomena.
Our work is based on two core principles:
- A rigorous and relevant academic research agenda that links theory to urban development practice
Identifying cutting-edge theoretical issues in global urban development research, and translating conceptual debates and empirical conclusions into operational frameworks, to ensure their integration into policy, planning, and programming. - A ‘bottom up’ focus on urban globalization
Putting people at the centre of our focus on interconnected, critical urban transformations.
For more information about GURC current research programmes, see Our Research.