About us

Founded in 2008, Lab'Urba has become one of Paris Region's leading laboratories on cities and territories, both in terms of the research strength of its 130 members (teacher-researchers, PhD students, ATERs and post-docs, associate researchers) and the recognition of its contribution to urban research. As part of the Cité Descartes and its City cluster, Lab'Urba benefits from an internationally recognized scientific environment in this field.

Lab'Urba's identity and originality are structured around four features

1) Collective urban action as the object of research

Lab'URBA considers that the production of urbanized spaces, whether in metropolitan or rural contexts, or in small and medium-sized towns, is the result of three fields of action: that of the redevelopment and recycling of urban environments; that of the uses and practices of these environments; and that of the management of their “proper” functioning. These three fields can be the result of intentional, organized collective action, framed by frames of reference, standards and procedures. It presupposes cooperation and coordination. It is underpinned by public and private instruments of action, and by the implementation of key activities such as the definition of public policies, urban planning, urban design or urban management. But these three fields of action - (re)developing, practicing and managing urbanized space - are also the result of another form of collective action, which stems from the day-to-day practices of city dwellers approached as individuals or social groups. These different forms of collective action are at the heart of the laboratory's scientific project. They are explored and explained from two angles: 1/ from the point of view of their actors, their processes of interaction, cooperation and decision-making, their instruments and representations; 2/ from the point of view of their effects on the urban environment, on urban socio-technical or socio-ecological systems, or on the organization and socio-spatial forms of cities and territories.

These considerations apply to a wide range of themes:

Themes that have been historically anchored and recognized at Lab'Urba, such as habitat (housing and living environment) and land (land value, sobriety, recycling, densification...).

Other themes have been strongly consolidated: socio-spatial inequalities (gender, etc.); health (ageing, health-friendly urban planning, health geography); urban planning and the urban environment in relation to climate change and energy crises (resilience, adaptation and mitigation); migration.

Lastly, new themes are organized around the renaturation of urbanized environments; waste circularity; the productive city; updating the housing-work-mobility relationship; agri-urbanization and food.

Social and health challenges, as well as those of the ecological and climatic emergency, underpin most of this work.

2) An interdisciplinary research approach

Since its creation, Lab'Urba has favored a multi-disciplinary approach, which is constantly reinforced by new recruits. These new recruits testify to Lab'Urba's attractiveness and enable us to assemble a research team that combines architects, ecologists, economists, geographers, geomaticians, historians, lawyers, engineers, political scientists, information and communication scientists, sociologists and urban planners.

3) A key position in the training-research relationship

Composed exclusively of teacher-researchers affiliated with the Paris School of Urban Planning (UGE-UPEC), the School of Engineers of the City of Paris and its Urban Engineering component (UGE), the Department of Geography, INSPE and IUT (Digital and Building) (UPEC), 2 University Research Schools and 3 graduate programs, Lab'Urba occupies a key position in initial training and research.

4) A laboratory mindful of its social utility

Since its creation, Lab'Urba has combined academic research with research with and for society. This scientific policy is reflected in the recognition of Lab'Urba's social utility and its commitment to supporting public action, civil society and the socio-economic world. At the heart of these partnerships are Lab'Urba's thematic strands on collective urban action in terms of socio-spatial and socio-environmental inequalities, as well as the ecological transformation of urban planning practices and urbanized spaces.