Objective & approach

Within the Urban School, the "Cities are back in town" research programme conducts robust social science-based research on cities and regions in France, Europe and the world. Much of the research develops comparisons within and beyond Europe. The programme organises a research seminar and publications.

This programme is supported by Nexity.

Research themes

• Government and urban governance, implementation of public policy (police, transport, housing, urban renewal, etc.)
• Social relations, lifestyles, social and ethnic inequalities in the urban environment
• Decentralisation, urban politics, institutions
• Institutions and regional economic development - stakeholder networks
• Urban social movements, riots, illegal activity
• Urban risks
• Environment, urban ecology
• Cyborg cities, digital cities
• Transnational mobility, migration, globalisation
• Ethnic and religious diversity
• Comparison of urban middle classes

New research perspectives are opened by studies and publications. Here are a few examples:

• the Paris region and French cities and regions
• European cities
• comparison of large metropolises: Mexico, Sao Paolo, London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milan, Delhi, Hong Kong and Istanbul.
• African cities
• comparative study of segregation, Paris - Rio de Janeiro - Sao Paulo
• Middle classes in the city: comparison between France - Rio de Janeiro
• Stakeholder networks, the elite and economic development, Paris, London, Los Angeles, San Francisco
• Urban risks

True to  Sciences Po's interdisciplinary tradition, the programme brings together sociologists, political scientists, economists, urban planners and historians from different laboratories:

• the Centre d'études européennes et de politique comparée (CEE)
• The Centre for Research on social Inequalities (CRIS)
• The Centre de Sociologie des Organisations (Centre for the Sociology of Organisations - CSO)
• The Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire d'Évaluation des Politiques Publiques (Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Public Policy Evaluation - LIEPP) et le groupe d'économie urbaine
• le CERI
• le Centre d'histoire (Centre for History Research)