Institute for Urban Research | Malmö | Sweden
The Institute for Urban Research at Malmö University was established in 2017 as an interdisciplinary research center. Co-directors Guy Baeten and Carina Listerborn explained how the institute operates.
How do you promote interdisciplinarity in your center?
Malmö was founded as an interdisciplinary University and worked that way since day one, an approach that makes us different from a lot of universities. We have never had problems with being interdisciplinary because it is part of our profile. A difficulty the center encounters regarding interdisciplinarity, is getting entity. Everyone has their own disciplinary background, which makes it more complex when it comes to forming a new identity around Urban Studies.
What attracts students to your center and to urban studies in general today?
The urban aspect attracts people from different disciplines. A lot of people are interested in urban issues and the challenges they see, going from environmental issues to housing and other aspects of the city. The city Malmö also attracts student for its image as being bit like an experimental city when it comes to sustainability and green spaces.
Are there any new future developments, opportunities or weaknesses for the Institute?
One of the opportunities we have, as we step in with a very young university and a very young Research Institute, is that we exist. We have, through the Institute, the opportunity to create visibility and networks, to put urban research in the shopping window. The opportunity we now have, is to consolidate urban research and become an important actor in urban research. But the instability of everything is always the threat that we are struggling with. We have this gap between teaching and research, and that is a creative, long-term threat for us, to really have continuity in what we are doing.