The UTM research group addresses cities and territories through interdisciplinary research to the specificities of people and places. Doing research that critical and creatively investigate how, what and for whom the built environment is for.

Our dynamic research in the field of urban design is grounded by two key components.

• How we can reimagine our built, lived, and experienced environment to create new futures.
• How to situate our findings and results through action, in the form of practical design solutions, policies, curatorial experiments, and strategies.

Transformation and mobilities

Within the UTM research group there are two overall themes: transformation and mobilities.

Transformation: urban challenges and sustainability

The theme of transformation focuses on the investigation of different methods and approaches to handle contemporary urban challenges to create tools that can support a more sustainable and long-term proof urban development.

We are triggered by a desire to explore and create new ways of planning and designing our future cities, both in the rapidly expanding urban agglomerations as well as within the smaller cities outside the urban growth centers.

Mobilities: More than A to B

The theme of mobilities explores what the increasing mobility of people, information, and goods means to societies. The research work from within the ‘Mobilities Turn’ and the underlying hypothesis that mobilities is ‘more than A to B’ movement.

The research explores how commuting, everyday life transport, digital media, new production and consumption patterns have effects beyond mere displacement of people, information and goods. The general research challenge is to explore and understand what mobilities mean to societies.