From 2014 - 2018 I was the head of Urban Orders Research Center (URO), which is an interdisciplinary research center based at Aarhus University, Denmark. URO focuses on participation, self-management and collaborative design in urban spaces.
Cities are increasingly becoming a key concern for researchers, policy-makers and not least the growing number of people living in urban areas. By 2011, more than half of the world’s population lived in cities and with a yearly growth rate on 3% this proportion will most likely rise to three-quarters by 2050. With this rapid urban growth, a number of critical issues have emerged that pressure the cohesion and stability of cities throughout the world: uncontrolled urban expansion, the effects of migration, gentrification and displacement, lack of access to basic services, growing poverty rates, poor housing conditions, intensified surveillance regimes and ethnic and political conflicts.
With URO, it has been our ambition to
Establish an international platform for research, teaching and collaboration with industrial partners, policy-makers, cities and public bodies.
Develop new forms of interdisciplinary collaborative urban methodologies focusing on co-design and civic participation
Facilitate MA courses and projects as collaboration between different AU faculties (ARTS, BSS, ST). By so doing, interdisciplinary teaching and research at URO will serve as platform for ongoing dialogue between students, scholars and external practitioner
Learn more about the URO Research Center here