Why is Milton Keynes one of the most successful cities in the UK, and Dundee one of the least? What gives Leeds its economic edge over Liverpool? How did London survive the 1990s recession, going from boom to bust and boom again? Researchers are asking these questions and many more in the largest ever analysis of what makes cities thrive.
Flash floods, burst riverbanks, overflowing drains, contaminants leaching into waterways: some of the disruptive, damaging and hazardous consequences of having too much rain. But can cities be designed and adapted to live more flexibly with water – to treat it as friend rather than foe?
Today, we commence a month-long focus on the future of cities. To begin, Doug Crawford-Brown, Robert Mair and Koen Steemers describe the challenges our future cities will face and how mitigation depends on the innovations we create and put in place today.
Data from location-based social networks may be able to predict when a neighbourhood will go through the process of gentrification, by identifying areas with high social diversity and high deprivation.
Desislava Hristova (Computer Laboratory) discusses how data from location-based social networks can be used to predict when a neighbourhood will go through the process of gentrification.
London’s first timber skyscraper could be a step closer to reality this week after researchers presented Mayor of London Boris Johnson with conceptual plans for an 80-storey, 300m high wooden building integrated within the Barbican.
Two new funding initiatives at the University of Cambridge will support the UK’s infrastructure and cities.
Researchers from UK and Chinese universities, including the University of Cambridge, are collaborating on four new projects to work towards achieving low carbon cities in the UK and China. The projects were announced as Chinese President, Xi Jinping visited the UK this week.
New model says world cities face expected losses of $4.6 trillion in economic output over the next decade as a result of natural or man-made catastrophes.
In a landmark project with UN-Habitat, a team of Cambridge researchers has designed a community centre in one of Kenya’s biggest and oldest slums, and its future users are now raising funds to build it.
© 2025 University of Cambridge