Research
Research Priority Areas
Focus on urban processes
Research priority area Urban Studies
The urban environment has become the ‘natural' habitat for more than half of the world population. Many important social issues, such as quality of life, inequality, conflict, identity and culture, and pollution, are now first and foremost linked to the urban context. More and more, the need is felt to address such issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. The Urban Studies priority research program therefore builds on the accumulated theoretical insights, methodological expertise and empirical knowledge of social scientists, geographers and planners at the University of Amsterdam. It focuses on the mutual relations between key social, economic, cultural and political issues and the multifaceted urban environment. The program aims at international academic, disciplinary and interdisciplinary research with frequent interactions between science, practice and policies, locally, in the Netherlands, Europe and beyond.
Organisation and Team
The Urban Studies priority research program unites the following research groups in the Faculty:
- Urban Geographies, led by Sako Musterd, also with Joos Droogleever Fortuijn and Lia Karsten;
- Planning, Institutions and Transforming Spaces, led by Willem Salet, also with Luca Bertolini;
- Geographies of Globalizations, led by Robert Kloosterman, also with Ewald Engelen;
- Governance of Sustainable Development, led by Isa Baud;
- Migration and Ethnic Studies led by Jan Rath, also with Jean Tillie and Maurice Crul;
- Mobility, Culture and Social Inequality, led by Jan Willem Duyvendak.
Urban Studies is led by Jan Nijman. He will be supported by an Advisory Board with representatives of the constituent research groups (prof. dr. Baud, prof. ir. Bertolini, prof. dr. Duyvendak, prof. dr. Engelen, prof. dr. Kloosterman, prof. dr. Musterd, prof. dr. Rath, prof. dr. Salet, prof. dr. Tillie) with Maarten Hajer as external advisor.
After an initial phase further collaboration is envisaged with other researchers within the faculty, elsewhere within the University of Amsterdam, with the VU University and with other organizations.