Science of cities


The world is explosively urbanizing. This poses not only challenges for the infrastructure. How do cities work? How does a denser environment affect their efficiency, health, communication, mobility, and collective opinion-formation?

Our main research questions


Do people interact differently when they live together in a confined space?

How can citizens be engaged to actively participate in local decision-making?

What can we learn from clever visualizations of processes in cities?

How reachable are services to different social classes?

How can the immense data streams a city is constantly producing be aggregated to develop cities in a useful, targeted, sustainable and resource-friendly way?

How does city life depend on its size and other factors?

When is an administration a good administration?