List of Events

This area offers a repository of information on key events happening in the urban studies field.

Those organised by the UT lead team are colour coded in purple. Events led by projects within the portfolio are shown in blue. Finally, event notices in green are significant events on cities run by external organisations.

If you would like us to post information on an event that you are organising please do email us.

Cities and mental health: Interdisciplinary experiments

Other Urban 12 Jun 2018

During the last 15 years, a flowering literature has investigated in different disciplines across the social and the life sciences the relations between urban living and mental health. One of the important research foci has been the troubling correla…

The Good City: Urban Transformation, Comparison and Value

UT 18 Apr 2018

From 18-20 April, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Urban Transformations (UT) network hosted an international conference in Oxford offering a gathering space for researchers focusing on issues of comparative urbanism across Global, Eur…

Rethinking the Urban Commons in European City-Regions

UT 12 Feb 2018

Bridging European Urban Transformations Workshop Series in Brussels 2016-2018 Co-organised in partnership by the University of Oxford – Urban Transformations and VUB – Brussels Centre for Urban Studies Monday 12 February 2018, 10:00-15:…

Cities in transition: unequal innovation in African cities

UT 31 Jan 2018

Urban Transformations Workshop Cape Town, 31st January 2018 Download the full programme here. An edited volume of contributions, based on the presentations around the event, is forthcoming: for more information, please contact Andreza de Souza Sant…

Brutalist Architecture and Creative Activism

Other Urban 23 Jan 2018

School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QY 23 January 2018, 16.00 – 17.30 Christoph Lindner is Professor and Dean of the College of Design at the University of Oregon and Honorary Research Professor in Cu…

Research and Metropolitan Health in Unequal Cities

UT 22 Nov 2017

Rio de Janeiro 22-24 Nov 2017 Key theme: urban health and wellbeing Sub-themes: Public health, city life, re-thinking urban wellbeing The full programme can be downloaded here. An edited volume of contributions, based on the presentations around the…

Birmingham Policy Lab: Financing Local Public Services

Other Urban 25 Oct 2017

The University of Birmingham and City-REDI is hosting a Birmingham Policy Lab workshop to explore the theme of the financing local public services. As demands on public services grow and austerity looks set to continue, the need to reform and …

Festival of the Future City

Portfolio 18 Oct 2017

The second Festival of the Future City will take place 18-20 October 2017. Set over three days the festival – which aims to be the largest public debate about the future of cities – brings together politicians, writers, artists, scientists, chan…

UT Panel at European Week of Regions and Cities

UT 11 Oct 2017

Urban Transformations (UT) have become increasingly interested in the institutional form that urban experimentation might take, the role of research in this process and how democratic and citizenship concerns may be balanced with policy and industria…

European Week of Regions and Cities

Other Urban 9 Oct 2017

The European Week of Regions and Cities is hosting its annual series of events, workshops and knowledge sharing sessions in Brussels between 9 and 12 October. Bringing together a wide variety of policy makers, practitioners and other stakeholders, th…

Scaling Migration Through the European City-Regions

UT 11 Sep 2017

Co-organised in partnership by the University of Oxford – Urban Transformations (www.urbantransformations.ox.ac.uk) and VUB – Brussels Centre for Urban Studies (www.urbanstudies.brussels) To register at the event, please visit https://www.eventbr…

Building health into developments – How planning and public health can build a healthier future

Portfolio 5 Sep 2017

Organised and hosted by PHE SW in partnership with South West Public Health Network, with coordination from the ESRC-funded project Reuniting Planning and Health: Tackling the Implementation Gaps in Evidence, Governance and Knowledge. For additional…

Urban transformation – roundtable discussion (RGS-IBG Annual Conference)

Portfolio 30 Aug 2017

This seminar is part of the 2017 RGS-IBG annual conference, running from 30 August to 1 September 2017, and will take place on 30 August. More information on the seminar is available here. A roundtable discussion on the theme of nature of urban trans…

5th RC21-IJURR-FURS Summer School in Comparative Urban Studies

Other Urban 30 Aug 2017

The Research Committee 21 (RC21) of the International Sociology Association, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR), the Foundation for Urban and Regional Studies (FURS) in collaboration with scholars from University College…

Globalisation in Crisis? The Urban and Regional Challenges of the Great Instability

UT 13 Jul 2017

The Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society will be running its fourth conference, ‘Globalisation in Crisis? The Urban and Regional Challenges of the Great Instability’ on 13-14 July 2017. As well as being a chance to hear about the lat…

Research workshop: the economic evolution of Bristol

Portfolio 21 Jun 2017

The City Evolutions research has selected five different cities for an in-depth exploration of the role of institutional arrangements and policy initiatives in dealing with economic change over the past 5 decades, including Bristol. The workshop will…

Research workshop: the economic evolution of Birmingham

Portfolio 13 Jun 2017

The City Evolutions research has selected five different cities for an in-depth exploration of the role of institutional arrangements and policy initiatives in dealing with economic change over the past 5 decades, including Birmingham. Economic chan…

Beyond Smart & Data-Driven City-Regions? Rethinking Stakeholder-Helixes Strategies

UT 6 Jun 2017

Smart City-Regions and Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) are now driving significant policy development in city regions in Europe. However, the ‘smartness’ in these strategies is dominated by a technological hegemonic understanding of the city…

The Great Regional Awakening: New Directions

Other Urban 4 Jun 2017

A ‘Great Regional Awakening’ is underway. There is a growing realisation that regional inequalities have both contributed to, and amplified, the ‘Great Recession’ that shook advanced and emerging economies alike. It is also becoming apparent …

Shaping Data Standards for Future Cities

Portfolio 19 May 2017

Friday 19th May 2017, 09:30 – 16:00 BST Still Room, IET Glasgow: Teacher Building, 14 Saint Enoch Square, Glasgow, G1 4DB The Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) and SASNet, in collaboration with BSI, invite you to this free event on ‘Shaping Data Stand…

Oxford Spring School UK City Futures

UT 4 May 2017

The “cities agenda” in the UK has undergone major changes of late. The new government’s priorities for restructuring the British model of growth will foreground the roles of cities in shaping the UK’s economic future in the Industrial Strateg…

Cities and the Political Imagination

Other Urban 28 Apr 2017

The Sociological Review is pleased to announce that the 2017 Annual Lecture will be given by Rivke Jaffe, University of Amsterdam

New London Vernacular/Urban Qualities

Portfolio 20 Apr 2017

Public Lecture and workshop Wednesday 26 April 2017 G12 – 22 Gordon Street One of the challenges of London’s real-estate led urban development model is to build new urban places with good qualities within the current financial and institu…

Urban Living Labs for public space – a new generation of planning?

UT 10 Apr 2017

While participatory planning is widely hailed as a prerequisite for well-managed urban development and sustainability, this ideal can be difficult to implement in practice, due to the complexity of interactions between stakeholders and the difficulty…

Metro Mayors: next steps for devolution in England

Other Urban 30 Mar 2017

Will metro mayors trigger wider public engagement and renewal by providing more accountable, transparent and inclusive local politics?

The 2nd EAI International Conference on Smart Grid Inspired Future Technologies (SmartGIFT 2017)

Other Urban 27 Mar 2017

The smart grid is envisaged to be the next generation electric grid for Smart Cities. It enables the smart integration of conventional power generation, renewable generation, distributed generation, energy storage, transmission, distribution and dema…

Smart Cities & Communities: Achieving Smart Urban Growth

Other Urban 22 Mar 2017

At Smart Cities and Communities: Achieving Smart Urban Growth you will have the opportunity to learn how International city projects are using frontier technology to tackle some of the biggest problems and use existing resources smarter.

The making of a permanent city for temporary residents

Other Urban 10 Mar 2017

This seminar, part of a series on ‘Space and place’ organised by Professor Elisabeth Hsu and Dr Carlos Vargas-Silva, is presented by Andreza de Souza Santos. Andreza is a Post-doctoral Research Associate within the Urban Transformations t…

Migration and Urban Transformation: boundaries in an age of resentment

UT 9 Mar 2017

Hilary term COMPAS seminar series; Thursdays at 2pm

Experimenting with Urban Living Labs (ULLs) beyond Smart City-Regions

UT 13 Feb 2017

Bridging European Urban Transformations To register for this free event, please visit here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/experimenting-with-urban-living-labs-ulls-beyond-smart-city-regions-tickets-30193233775 Workshop Series in Brussels 2016-2017…

Migration and housing: can we turn challenges into opportunities for cities?

Portfolio 8 Feb 2017

In this session, we will explore the potential solutions to make housing more affordable, what the impact of migration flows is and how affordable housing influences city economic growth.

Bridging European Urban Transformations

UT 14 Nov 2016

Workshop Series in Brussels 2016-2017: Funded by the ESRC (Un)Plugging Data in Smart City-Regions Co-organised in partnership by the University of Oxford – Urban Transformations and VUB – Brussels Centre for Urban Studies Date: 14th November …

Designing Respect Exhibition

Other Urban 21 Oct 2016

4th – 23rd October 2016 Venue: Museum of Tomorrow, Rio de Janeiro Theatrum Mundi, People’s Palace Projects and Museum of Tomorroware proud to present the 2016 edition of the global ideas competition Designing Politics, set this year in Rio de Jan…

Habitat III – 20 October events

UT 20 Oct 2016

Non-official Habitat III events with direct UT involvement (participant or organizer)

Urban Life

Other Urban 19 Oct 2016

Future of Cities Seminar Series, Michaelmas 2016 Wednesdays 16.30-18.00 – Hovenden Room, All Souls College, Oxford 19 October – The Border and the City: Spatialities of the European Crisis Dimitris Dalakoglou, Chair in Social Anthropolog…

Habitat III – 19 October events

UT 19 Oct 2016

Habitat III events organised by Urban Transformations or of interest to UT partners

Habitat III – 18 October events

UT 18 Oct 2016

Habitat III events organised by Urban Transformations or of interest to UT partners.

Habitat III – 17 October events

UT 17 Oct 2016

Habitat III events organised by Urban Transformations or of interest to UT partners

Transforming research into practices and policies: Dialogues on implementation and evaluation of the new urban agenda

UT 17 Oct 2016

A Habitat III side event convened by the Urban Transformations Network and the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Habitat III

Other Urban 17 Oct 2016

Habitat III is the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development to take place in Quito, Ecuador, from 17 – 20 October 2016. In Resolution 66/207 and in line with the bi-decennial cycle (1976, 1996 and 2016), the United Nat…

Call for Papers: Young people and the ‘New Urban Agenda’: addressing key themes of Habitat III

UT 14 Sep 2016

University of Birmingham: 14 – 16 Sep 2016 This international two day conference will bring together academics working with children and youth to address key themes of Habitat III; a forum for debate, critical reflection and interdisciplinary d…

Summer School: Understanding Urban Transformations through Data

Portfolio 12 Sep 2016

An ESRC Strategic Network: Data and Cities as Complex Adaptive Systems (DACAS) Organisers: Deljana Iossifova (University of Manchester), Ulysses Sengupta (Manchester Metropolitan University) Dates: 12 – 16 September 2016 Location: Manchester School…

Urban Transitions Global Summit 2016: Towards a better urban future in an interconnected age

Other Urban 5 Sep 2016

Urban Transitions 2016 will highlight the latest research and practice towards developing an urban future that is more economically competitive, sustainable and resilient, equitable and inclusive, and digitally supported. This major new event will br…

Cities in Transformation: Processes, Problems and Policies

Other Urban 14 Jul 2016

14-15 July 2016, St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge There is little doubt that cities are navigating a turbulent and uncertain context, and face an unprecedented and intense set of economic, social and environmental challenges. There is mountin…

Urban Marginality

Urban Marginality Researcher Links Workshop

Other Urban 12 Jul 2016

12 to 5 July 2016 Universidad La Salle, Mexico City, Mexico In Mexico City, as in many other large cities worldwide, contemporary modes of urban governance have overwhelmingly benefited affluent populations and widened social inequalities. Disinvestm…

7th ESRC Research Methods Festival (5-7 July 2016)

Other Urban 5 Jul 2016

National Centre for Research Methods is organising the 7th ESRC Research Methods Festival at the University of Bath. The draft programme is now available Booking open until 13th June! Book your place here. Festival themes International knowledge exch…

Joint DACAS/ICTP-SAIFR Workshop on Modelling Urban Systems in São Paulo, Brazil

UT 20 Jun 2016

20-24 June 2016, São Paulo, Brazil The aim of the ESRC Strategic Network: Data and Cities as Complex Adaptive Systems (DACAS) is to promote an interdisciplinary complexity science approach to the study of urban data and the links between soft and ha…

The Sociology of Contemporary Urban Life

Other Urban 16 Jun 2016

Thursday 16 June The Lakehouse, Heslington East campus, University of York 10:30 Registration and Coffee 10:45-11:00 Welcome 11:00-12:00 Phil Hubbard (Kent) Hipsters on the High Street: Local Shopping Streets as the New Urban Frontier 12:00-13:00 Pan…

Cities and Regions: Managing Growth and Change

Other Urban 15 Jun 2016

RSA 2nd North America Conference, Atlanta, USA In the wake of the global financial crisis, cities have searched for new policies and practices capable of addressing major shifts in socio-economic relations at the urban and regional scale. These diver…

Glasgow city view

From Cities Policies to City Policy: Innovative Pathways to Urban Transformation

UT 8 Jun 2016

Joint Urban Transformations and Policy Scotland event Venue: Zone B, The Tontine Building, 20 Trongate, Glasgow The last five years have witnessed substantial shifts in policy approaches to cities across a number of the OECD countries. Within this ge…