Future social, ecological and economic challenges are all strongly linked to urbanization processes. The UN estimates that today’s 3.5 billion urban population will have increased to 6.5 billion by 2050. This increase will trigger the ‘biggest building boom humankind will ever undertake’. Global corporations such as IBM, Siemens and Google have all entered the urbanization market and offer smart city solutions across the globe. This raises a range of new urban questions and urban challenges. At Malmö University, a strong research environment, including a PhD education in Urban Studies, has developed around urban issues and policies over the past 10 years.
The Institute for Urban Research (IUR) seeks to consolidate and widen this urban research environment at Malmö University. Based at the Faculty of Culture, IUR exposes contemporary challenges emanating from urbanization processes. IUR brings together knowledge from various disciplines to propose possible solutions to urban societal challenges. IUR engages with citizens, civil society, private actors and public authorities to communicate our research results and find ways to implement solutions. Our main research themes are housing and urban renewal, social sustainability, urban migration, urban economics, mobilities, smart cities and urban ecology.
