Today over half of the world’s expanding population live in cities. What does this mean for being an ‘urban human’? Answering this question requires knowledge of how technological, environmental, biological and political changes affect urban life. It is also necessary to understand how urban humans are imagined and how these framings inform city processes.
The theme advances our understanding of the distinctive nature of the 21st Century ‘urban human’ and examines implications for policy-making, planning and design.
Research Questions
– Do assistive technologies and architectures extend human capacities and functionality beyond existing human norms?
– How does urban life
shape the corporeality and physical/mental health of bodies and does this produce a distinctive type of urban human?
– Does the need to live with others and deal with tensions, generate questions about specifically ‘urban’ human rights?
– What survival strategies
are needed for the marginalised urban human that improvises on the edge of the formal economy?
News
PODCAST – An interview with Sophie King on the process of researching urban poverty in Uganda
Hear Dr Sophie King, Research Fellow in the Urban Institute talk about her research into urban poverty in Uganda for ESID. In particular, Sophie looks at what shapes state vision, commitment and capacity for urban poverty reduction in Uganda, and…
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Craft metrics to value co-production: comment piece by Beth Perry published in Nature
To assess whether research is relevant to society, ask the stakeholders, say Beth Perry, Catherine Durose, and Liz Richardson. A comment piece co-authored by the Urban Institute's Beth Perry, with colleagues from the University's of Manchester and Birmingham has been…
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Networks
Volumetric urbanism workshop (June 2017) – Joint with Rowland Atkinson and UWS
3
of the Earth’s surface has been urbanised
4
people currently living in urban areas
2.5
Number of people who voluntarily wear an electronic tracking device such as a smartphone
80