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Building a global urban science

Nature Sustainability volume 1, pages 2–4 (2018)Cite this article

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The study of cities needs to become more than the sum of its parts. An international Expert Panel investigates why, and how.

As we argue here, achieving the first goal will require bringing together scholars from disparate fields and reorganizing existing knowledge domains that are currently compartmentalized and professionalized. Achieving the second goal will require transformation of current science–policy interfaces. These are pivotal shifts because urban systems are complex and multi-dimensional, and without a more synthetic and holistic enquiry, we run the risk of creating incomplete solutions. In order for urban science to be collectively greater than the sum of its parts, it needs to draw from all the sciences — natural, engineering, and social, as well as the arts and humanities — whilst linking directly into practice, and offering effective global assessments of the state of our planet’s urban condition.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. City Leadership Lab, University College London, London, UK

    Michele Acuto

  2. Department of Geography and African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Susan Parnell

  3. School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Karen C. Seto

Authors
  1. Michele Acuto
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  2. Susan Parnell
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  3. Karen C. Seto
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Michele Acuto, Susan Parnell or Karen C. Seto.

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Acuto, M., Parnell, S. & Seto, K.C. Building a global urban science. Nat Sustain 1, 2–4 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-017-0013-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-017-0013-9

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