about
Dedicated to research and teaching in geography, spatial planning and urban design, Cosmopolis is committed to pursuing both academic and practice-relevant research. We actively engage policy makers, governments, citizen networks, and other urban partners to transform knowledge into action. Cosmopolis members are also involved in various educational programmes.
research
Cosmopolis researchers are involved in a wide variety of research projects, ranging from applied to basic research, from individual to consortium projects, and funded by regional, national and European funding agencies. For a detailed overview of our ongoing and completed projects, research output and activities, please visit our page in the PURE database.
Beyond the individual project, Cosmopolis researchers collaborate within various research labs that are organizationally situated between individual projects and the level of Cosmopolis as a whole. Labs offer a supportive ‘horizontal’ space for researchers beyond the individual ‘vertical’ supervisor-researcher relation and are useful platforms to get feedback, share experiences and literature, find synergies between individual work and that of the wider group, and identify opportunities for publications, funding, and events.
Currently, Cosmopolis runs the following research labs:
Urban economies lab: this lab focuses on critical approaches to contemporary urban economic development but also seeks to learn about potential ‘alternative’ urban economic frameworks. Themes included critical concepts like financialization and rent, but also counternarratives such as caring cities, community infrastructures, the foundational economy, the circular economy, etc., and how these can be embedded in contemporary cities.
Urban social-ecological systems lab: this lab is an interdisciplinary research and practice space that seeks to provide knowledge and analysis for making cities more resilient, liveable, sustainable and equitable in the face of increasingly intertwined social, environmental and climate challenges. The lab aims to address a variety of research areas including: urban resilience; climate change adaptation and nature-based solutions; urban environmental planning; social equity and environmental justice; sustainable urban transitions and futures; urban biodiversity and ecosystem services; urban (spatial) data science and visualization.
Planning and urban design lab: this lab bridges the gap between the disciplines of housing, urban design and mobility planning, connecting research with planning practice and teaching. The three disciplines mentioned have been co-evolving withing Cosmopolis, and form the backbone of the urban design and spatial planning master's programme.
HousingIDiversity Lab: this lab seeks to uncover manifestations of difference and inequality, focusing on how both the formal and informal organization of housing and urban space align with the right to housing and emancipatory forms of urban life. We explore this through various thematic angles, including housing and land movements, alternative housing initiatives, commons, communal land, housing quality, private and collaborative new-build housing, housing governance, and institutions, as well as how these intersect with social identities such as class, ethnicity, sexuality, age, ability, religion and gender. We are interested in understanding how these issues are intertwined and spatially (re)produced, as well as how they are experienced, shaped, and lived. Beyond its ambition to create a platform for critical housing and diversity research, the Lab aims to steer support and solidarity. It serves as an open space, not only for discussing preliminary research findings, research strategies, methodologies, and the ethical challenges of conducting research, but also for critically reflecting on - and potentially acting against - housing injustices and academic practices in an increasingly neoliberal and entrepreneurial context.
people
Cosmopolis is a research unit of around 45 people. For a full list of Cosmopolis researchers, see People - Cosmopolis. Current director of Cosmopolis is Prof. David Bassens.
location
Cosmopolis is a research group, but it is also a physical place: as part of the USET research hub, we occupy the main university building on the new VUB-ULB USquare campus. Situated across multiple floors, USET offers multifunctional spaces, including meeting and seminar rooms, dedicated offices for staff, flexible workspaces for visiting researchers, a café, and a large reception area. This setting facilitates interdisciplinary research collaborations, engagement with students from various educational programs, and connections with stakeholders and society in Brussels and beyond.
Address: Avenue de la Couronne 227, 1050 Brussels. Building A, 2nd and 3rd floors.