The Centre for Strategic Urban Research is a research centre that sets focus on the development, management and quality of urban areas. The centre will draw on the strengths of a range of disciplines in the assessment of urban areas in an overall perspective that also includes global aspects.

The Centre has been established on the basis of an acknowledgement that urban areas are currently undergoing a development that creates new challenges for urban policy. »Metropolisation« is one of the terms used for this development; we have chosen to use the term »the unlimited urban entity«. Urban areas and their hinterland no longer constitute a clearly demarcated unit; rather, they are part of a larger global network – and the centre researchers are to develop a strategic body of knowledge that can match the challenges raised by this new situation. Moreover, the Centre considers it important to integrate research concerning architecture, planning and socio-spatial issues, thereby contributing to overcome the traditional barriers between the various types of urban research.

The overriding intention behind the Centre for Strategic Urban Research is to conduct research activities that contribute to improving the foundation for overall decisions regarding the development of urban centres. The Centre aims to contribute to a coherent understanding of the dynamics affecting urban development. The Centre intends to contribute to the creation of the background knowledge required to match the challenges currently encountered by urban centres and localities. The Centre works to develop action-oriented knowledge, thereby serving as a think-tank and laboratory for urban and regional development. The Centre aspires to contribute to a multidisciplinary development of this area of academia, as by its very nature, it is hardly the domain of a single academic discipline.

All of the participants are engaged in international and national academic networks working with both the ongoing academic updating and debates of relevance for maintaining research quality.
Moreover, the participants collaborate directly with Danish authorities (e.g. ministries and municipalities) and organizations working with current urban and regional issues. This ensures significant and important input to the academic, theoretical debate, as well as continued grounding in the relevant conceptual issues.

A board of directors and the Centre management ensure the scientific quality of the projects carried out in the Centre. In addition, a Scientific Advisory Board composed of internationally renowned researchers will tie connections to international research.
Engaging in international research represents another high priority, partly in order to engage in the academic exchange, and partly to be able to implement the relevant debates and issues in a Danish context. As the centre has been established to operate for a limited period of time, the activities are aimed at creating lasting changes in the individual institutions.

To fulfil these ambitions,

• the Centre activities form the foundation for research-based teaching;
• the Centre forms the basis for the education of researchers (PhD);
• the Centre serves as the basis for holding on to young researchers (post. doc.);
• the three core institutions, via co-financing and the participation of permanent researchers in the Centre’s projects and other activities, ensure that knowledge, networks and methods are anchored in the research environments, also in the years to come.