Current research projects

Urban Studies at Glasgow (USG) has a large number of research projects ongoing at any one time.  Here is a selection of our current projects.

Sign post saying work, career, health, family

Women in Multiple Low-Paid Employment: Pathways Between Work, Care and Health

This research project aims to understand the nature and extent of women’s multiple low-paid employment (MLPE) in the UK by combining secondary analysis of national survey data with qualitative research to examine the lived experiences of women in Glasgow

Map with pins in it

Place-Based Research Programme

Place is an important focus for current and future government research and development strategy. Place is also a research topic at the heart of many arts and humanities disciplines, from archaeology and architecture to history and literature.

An outline of buildings in blue lines with blue hearts and 'thumbs up' over some of the buildings. One building has a red heart above it.

Why Do Historic Places Matter? Emotional Attachments to Urban Heritage

This research is looking at the emotional attachments that people have to their historic urban environment and identifying the factors that contribute to those feelings. The key questions are how, and to what extent, are emotional attachments to place considered during the designation and management of historic urban assets? 

Busy street in Seoul, South Korea

Creating Prosperous City Centres Post-Pandemic Through Repurposing Retail Space

This collaboration aims to share knowledge and experience of practice and research on the planning and regeneration of retail spaces in city centres in the UK and South Korea to identify current and future challenges and develop solutions

Health and Employment Retention

This research aims to understand the key risk factors of employment retention among people affected by physical and mental health conditions. The research is developed as part of the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR), using an innovative combination of Census data linked to prescribing information, hospital admission records and data from the benefit system.

Living together in the context of Brexit

This research project is about migration and the impact of Brexit on diverse urban communities. The project explores everyday encounters between Polish migrants and the long-settled population in the East End of Glasgow, Scotland. 

Ageing High-Rise in Japan and the UK

This collaborative research aims to share knowledge and experience of historic and current practice and research on ageing highrise neighbourhoods in the UK and Japan to identify future challenges and develop solutions.

Assessing the impact of benefit sanctions on health

This research, being undertaken as part of the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR), will study the health impact of sanctions using a unique dataset built from individual-level administrative records.

Capturing Land Value from Developments

This project seeks to identify the potential impact that alternative land value capture mechanisms might have on the incidence and value of developer contributions in Britain.

Retrofitting Existing Buildings for CO2 Reduction in Scotland and Turkey

This research explores the problems experienced in existing housing stocks in Scotland (Glasgow) and Turkey (Kadıköy, Istanbul) regarding retrofitting for carbon reduction.

REPAIR: Real Estate, Place Adaptation and Innovation within an integrated Retailing system ‌

Real Estate, Place Adaptation and Innovation within an integrated Retailing systems (REPAIR) is a multi-stream research project, running over three years,  that aims to analyse the creation of diversity, innovation and, thus, adaptive capacity within urban retail markets.

The Cost of Cuts

Focusing on the consequences for vulnerable people and deprived places of the "worst financial settlement in living memory" for local government.

The Remaking of Chinese Urban Neighbourhoods

This project brings together researchers from the University of Glasgow and Nankai University to examine changing neighbourhoods in three Chinese cities.

Welfare Conditionality: Sanctions, Support and Behaviour Change

We’re studying conditional welfare in the UK. By that we mean two main situations. One is where people’s access to welfare is restricted or stopped – for example, by benefit sanctions or rules. The second, equally important, is welfare support – for example, through family intervention projects or help to find work. Generally with these kinds of sanctions and support, governments aim to get people to change their behaviour. We’re looking into all the effects of sanctions and support on people’s lives.

Alternative economic development approaches – RSE workshop series

Workshops in four UK cities where alternative approaches are actively being implemented, plus a follow-on online event, will establish a research-policy network and shared learning platform to: explore the potential for transformative change; support stakeholder implementation; and lay the foundations for future research work.

See completed projects

Current Research Projects

Urban Studies at Glasgow (USG) has a large number of research projects ongoing at any one time.  Here you can read details of a selection of our current projects.