Introduction / mission

The Living Cities Program contributes to wider academic discourses pleading for an integrated cross-disciplinary science of architecture and urbanism, conceptualizing the city and architecture as the materialization of evolutionary processes in an integrated spatial, social and cultural eco-system.

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An interdisciplinary approach to architecture and urbanism as dynamic socio-spatial-temporal constructs

Organisational profile

The twenty-first century has been labeled as the ‘urban century’ and sustainable urban development as one of the key assignments in decades to come. For this reason, architecture and the city are increasingly becoming central to leading academic studies from the fields of social sciences, economy, technology, ecology and governance. However, studies are often conducted from the perspective of a single discipline.

The Living Cities program specifically focuses on how these aspects work together and materialize in the spatial development of the city and its architecture, interpreted as an evolutionary and integrated process of construction and urbanization driven by socio-historical processes. The program brings together research from the chairs of Architectural History and Theory (AHT), Architectural Design and Engineering (ADE), Rational Architecture (RA) and Urbanism and Urban Architecture (UUA).

In line with the Departments’ strategic research agenda on Sustainable Transformation, the program focuses on exploring and understanding the response of architecture and the development of the city for reuse, adaptation and new interventions in response to these shifting societal challenges. Aspects of history and theory, geography, technological systems, urban form and architectural typologies influence each other reciprocally and dynamically in such a cultural ecosystem.

Living Cities research

•    is cross-scalar (correlating spatial scales, from the single architectural element to that of the city or region)

•    is multi-disciplinary (combining architectural and urban scholarship, theory and practice, policy and technology, construction and planning) 

•    within a temporal perspective of historical evolution (retrospective and prognostic)

•    combines qualitative and quantitative research methods from social and historical science with those of design research from spatial sciences (geography, urbanism and architecture) 

Evolutionary logics of sustainable architectural and urban development have been grouped into five thematic clusters, supported by active participation in relevant networks. The themes are in line with dominant research themes within the strategic research agendas of the University as well as National and European research agencies.

• Cultural Heritage
• Sustainability and Circular Cities
• Active Mobility and Health
• Smart Cities and Buildings
• Emerging Materials and Building Technologies