PEAK Urban – Fostering a New Approach in Developing Cities

July 2, 2019

In response to the increasingly complex development challenges posed by today’s cities, the ESRC-funded Building Capacity for the Future City in Developing Countries (PEAK) seeks to foster a new approach to urban policy making and research through the creation of an international consortium of cities. This exciting platform will serve as an interactive platform for the four-year multinational research consortium, spanning China, Colombia, India, South Africa and the UK, to showcase their findings.

Building on a collaboration between researchers in China, Colombia, India, South Africa and the UK, the project will create five regional centres that in turn will engage with a network of city observatories and urban labs. By bringing together a multidisciplinary team of experts in science, sociology and the humanities, spanning mathematic, medicine and engineering to anthropology, migration and law, the research will synthesise a range of specialist knowledge on key urban development challenges.

Among other outcomes, the project will support a new generation of urban scholars, global in focus and engaging across different fields, and produce a variety of innovative publications, knowledge exchange activities and other outputs. Most importantly, it will create and strengthen the capacities of cities themselves to absorb emerging urban research and integrate this learning into their decision making.

The project recently launched its new website and will present regular blogs, videos and other outputs for a range of audiences. You can also follow its activities on Twitter at @Peak_Urban. A series of videos on the project’s aims through the eyes of its different researchers is available here.