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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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? 

Completed Projects