Publication: Reimagining urban science for global sustainability: Five strategic research areas

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What should cities focus on in an era of interconnected challenges? A globally co-designed urban research agenda reveals pressing priorities for sustainability and resilience: 1) Advancing urban sustainability transformations, 2) Ensuring equity, 3) Boosting innovation in Low to Lower-Middle Income Countries, 4) Managing complexity and systemic risks, and 5) Navigating environmental change. So how does one advance these priority areas of research?

The paper published in Global Sustainability reviewed and analysed opinions from the field of urban research through iterated workshops, surveys, and community consultation. Five areas of concern were identified, and various sub-questions are ranked within these areas of concern based on the expert responses. Some of the highly ranked research questions include "What kind of political, institutional, social, and economic knowledge and practices can hinder or facilitate accelerated transitions?", and "How can urban systems integrate mitigation and adaptation efforts for more sustainable and resilient development?"

In order to advance research on these priority areas, five cross-cutting elements were identified: 1) collaboration and networking, 2) shared databases, 3) ambitious policies, 4) monitoring evaluation and learning (MEL), and 5) new types of funding schemes.

For more on methodology and discussion around the five advancement agendas for urban research, read the full publication authored by ARC Laureate Distinguished Professor Xuemei Bai and 16 other eminent scientists: external link to publication

Bai, X., Sioen, G. B., Kılkış, Ş., McPhearson, T., Niazi, Z., Dodson, J., Atmaja, T., Fukushi, K., Frantzeskaki, N., Nagendra, H., Shih, W.-Y., Elmqvist, T., Muñoz-Erickson, T. A., Deng, X., Güneralp, B., Lwasa, S., & Zama, N. (2025). Reimagining urban science for global sustainability: Five strategic research areas. Global Sustainability, 1–50. https://doi.org/10.1017/sus.2025.10025