The Urban Studies Program focuses on a humanistic, interdisciplinary study of the urban experience. It understands the urban world as a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural place where people from all over the world share the norms and values, the everyday encounters, and the spaces of urban life.

The Program offers innovative research and curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate level. Study covers the socio-economic, cultural, and political aspects of the urban realm as well as the environmental and global dimensions.
The program’s particular competency covers social issues, built environment, planning, housing, urban regeneration, informal cities, sustainable development, resiliency and the environment.

Our purpose in pursuing UN-Habitat UNI partnership is to establish connections with universities and research institutions pursuing UN-Habitat sustainability goals. We want to engage in collaborative partnerships on new research and faculty/student exchanges that promote innovative, implementable tools and strategies toward sustainability.

Our objective is to promote the interconnected socio-economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable urban development and the production of new knowledge on the future of cities and metropolitan regions. These goals align with the development of a Global Urban Research Network. UNI partnership will broaden and deepen our educational curriculum and help faculty and students to think critically about the future of cities and urban regions.

Thematic Hubs of interest are: urban futures, informal urbanism, social issues/inequality, and on urban form. We can host UNI initiatives and events in New York, contribute to the Urban Lecture Series, and collaborate on White Papers to UN-Habitat and the New Urban Agenda. We can also act as expert consultant on sustainable development as a holistic, interdisciplinary strategy.

We would also like to engage faculty and students in Habitat III preparations and apply for student internships.

• Social Inclusion
• Slum Upgrading
• Resilience
• Reconstruction
• Planning and Design
• Housing
• Environment
• Climate Change
• Capacity Development

• Informal Urbanism
• Climate Change
• Urban Regeneration
• Urban Governance
• Urban Form