The area refers to Urban and Regional Studies from a social sciences perspective, mainly framing urban issues in terms of problem-setting, analysis, and interpretations.
The main aim is to question urban and regional phenomena and their complex formations within wider socio-spatial dynamics and histories as well as discuss conceptual and methodological frameworks defining the various strands of urban theory.
The social sciences perspective is crucial to understand the urban in the turbulent present, marked by increasing inequalities, geopolitical tensions, and accelerated climate issues. Our approach is characterised by the search for a liaison between theoretical depth and empirical grounding, with particular emphasis on critical approaches, concepts driven empirical analysis, case studies, and comparison.
The research in this field is devoted to exploring the uneven provisioning of infrastructures, processes of dispossession and other forms of inequalities across geographies and histories, economic agglomeration dynamics, urban regional development, politics, and institutional systems of government.
Methodologically, we carry out projects grounded on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, searching for interconnections between situated research of territorial contexts, data analysis, sound and visual investigations, policy and archival research, digital methods, and participatory approaches.
- SH1_4 Finance; financial markets
- SH1_8 Econometrics, game theory, decision theory
- SH1_10 Microeconomics, industrial organisation, applied microeconomics
- SH2_1 Political systems, governance
- SH2_2 Democratisation and social movements
- SH3_2 Inequalities, discrimination, prejudice
- SH3_10 Communication and information, networks, media
- SH3_11 Digital social research
- SH7_1 Human, economic and social geography
- SH7_2 Migration
- SH7_7 Cities; urban, regional and rural studies