SEE is at the forefront of innovative research in the area of urban resilience which brings together human geographers and engineers exploring the material nature of the built environment and the social, economic, cultural factors underpinning urban living, with psychologists working on cognitive, affective and social processes that influence behaviour and support adaptation to and utilization of urban environments.
Urban areas, their populations and their governance structures increasingly have to respond to major challenges and a vast range of contemporary risks resulting from environmental change, threats to national and international security, an array challenges associated with contrasting demographies, and from enhanced global economic turbulence. There is now increased emphasis on responding to such major challenges by enhancing the resilience of the urban environment, economy, society, communities and individuals to cope with this range of disruptive challenges.
The work in SEE is embedded within the University of Birmingham’s Resilience and Urban Living initiative and focused around a number of core interlocking themes:
-
Enhancing the economic resilience of cities and regions
-
Responding to insecurity and disaster
-
Developing community and neighbourhood resilience
-
Adaptive Human Behaviours
-
Responding to demographic change
-
Energy resilience and adapting to climate change
See further details of work on Resilience and Urban Living.