About us
The research group Spatial Development and Urban Policy (SPUR) of Prof. David Kaufmann aims to contribute to sustainable, democratic and just urban development through research and teaching. We enhance the understanding of and develop possible solutions for policy and planning challenges that emerge in urbanized regions globally. We are an interdisciplinary team of political scientists, urban planners and designers, geographers and economists working at the intersection of public policy, planning and urban studies.
Our motivation
The foundational motivation of the Spatial Development and Urban Policy (SPUR) group is to contribute to policy-making and planning for urban sustainable development through research and teaching
This foundational motivation contains three distinctive aspects:
- Process: We focus on planning and policy-making because they constitute the public tools to steer the future.
- Unit of analysis: We focus on urban areas because are pathways to every aspect of sustainable development.
- Substance: We dedicate our research to search for possibilities to an integrative sustainable development, that has to be democratic and without amplifying socio-economic differences.
Our research agenda
Driven by this foundational motivation, the SPUR group conducts three research agendas. They are:
- Urban Policy and Politics: We study and evaluate urban planning and policy-making for global urban sustainable development
- Spatial Planning and Development: We analyze how a sustainable, democratic and just urban development can be planned and implemented.
- Humanitarian Planning and Housing: We create knowledge to serve the housing needs of displaced populations worldwide through environmentally and socially sustainable humanitarian planning