Skip to content
COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
    • CED
      • About CED
        • Vision
        • People
        • Meet CED Alums
        • Community
        • Our Spaces
        • Work at CED
        • Giving
        • Visit Us
        • Contact Us
      • Academics
        • Degrees + Certificates
        • Summer Programs
        • Study Abroad
        • Courses
      • Admissions
        • Undergraduate Admissions
        • Graduate Admissions
        • Fees & Financial Aid
      • Advising
        • CED Undergraduate Advising
        • Graduate Advising
      • News + Events
        • News
        • Events
      • Research + Design
        • Centers & Institutes
        • Climate Solutions
        • Equity + Social Justice
        • Technology + Material Innovations
        • Publications
        • Research Collaborations
        • Environmental Design Archives
        • Student Work
      • Student Resources
        • Student Organizations
        • Student Support
        • Building Safety
        • Student Fees and Waivers
        • Fabrication + Materials
        • IT + Computing
        • Environmental Design Library
        • Facility Services
        • Awards, Scholarships and Fellowships
        • Careers & Work Opportunities
    • ARCH
      • About Architecture
        • Diversity
        • Leadership
        • Accreditation and Licensure
      • Degrees + Admissions
        • Admissions
        • Bachelor of Arts
        • Minor in Environmental Design and Urbanism in Developing Countries
        • Minor in the History of the Built Environment
        • Minor in Social and Cultural Factors in Environmental Design
        • Minor in Sustainable Design
        • Master of Architecture (MArch)
        • Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD)
        • Master of Science
        • Ph.D.
        • Concurrent Programs
      • Courses
        • 2023 Fall Courses
        • 2023 Summer Courses
        • 2023 Spring Courses
      • People
        • Faculty
        • Emeriti
        • Students
        • Staff
      • Gallery
      • Advising
    • LAND
      • About LAEP
      • Degrees + Admissions
        • Admissions
        • Bachelor of Arts
        • Minor in Landscape Architecture
        • Master of Landscape Architecture
        • Ph.D.
        • Concurrent Degrees
      • Courses
      • People
        • Faculty
        • Emeriti
        • Students
        • Staff
      • Gallery
      • Advising
    • CITY
      • About DCRP
      • Degrees + Admissions
        • Admissions
        • Ph.D.
        • Master of City Planning
        • Bachelor of Arts
      • Courses
      • People
        • Faculty
        • Lecturers
        • Emeriti
        • Students
        • Staff
      • Gallery
        • Student Work
        • Faculty Work
        • Studio Work
      • Advising
    • IURD
      • About IURD
      • Research
      • Master of Real Estate Development + Design (MRED+D)
        • About MRED+D
        • Admissions
        • Courses
        • People
      • Master of Urban Design (MUD)
        • About MUD
        • Admissions
        • Courses
        • People
      • BA in Sustainable Environmental Design
        • About SED
        • Courses
        • People
      • People
      • Gallery
      • Advising
  • CED
    • About CED
      • Vision
      • People
      • Meet CED Alums
      • Community
      • Our Spaces
      • Work at CED
      • Giving
      • Visit Us
      • Contact Us
    • Academics
      • Degrees + Certificates
      • Summer Programs
      • Study Abroad
      • Courses
    • Admissions
      • Undergraduate Admissions
      • Graduate Admissions
      • Fees & Financial Aid
    • Advising
      • CED Undergraduate Advising
      • Graduate Advising
    • News + Events
      • News
      • Events
    • Research + Design
      • Centers & Institutes
      • Climate Solutions
      • Equity + Social Justice
      • Technology + Material Innovations
      • Publications
      • Research Collaborations
      • Environmental Design Archives
      • Student Work
    • Student Resources
      • Student Organizations
      • Student Support
      • Building Safety
      • Student Fees and Waivers
      • Fabrication + Materials
      • IT + Computing
      • Environmental Design Library
      • Facility Services
      • Awards, Scholarships and Fellowships
      • Careers & Work Opportunities
  • ARCH
    • About Architecture
      • Diversity
      • Leadership
      • Accreditation and Licensure
    • Degrees + Admissions
      • Admissions
      • Bachelor of Arts
      • Minor in Environmental Design and Urbanism in Developing Countries
      • Minor in the History of the Built Environment
      • Minor in Social and Cultural Factors in Environmental Design
      • Minor in Sustainable Design
      • Master of Architecture (MArch)
      • Master of Advanced Architectural Design (MAAD)
      • Master of Science
      • Ph.D.
      • Concurrent Programs
    • Courses
      • 2023 Fall Courses
      • 2023 Summer Courses
      • 2023 Spring Courses
    • People
      • Faculty
      • Emeriti
      • Students
      • Staff
    • Gallery
    • Advising
  • LAND
    • About LAEP
    • Degrees + Admissions
      • Admissions
      • Bachelor of Arts
      • Minor in Landscape Architecture
      • Master of Landscape Architecture
      • Ph.D.
      • Concurrent Degrees
    • Courses
    • People
      • Faculty
      • Emeriti
      • Students
      • Staff
    • Gallery
    • Advising
  • CITY
    • About DCRP
    • Degrees + Admissions
      • Admissions
      • Ph.D.
      • Master of City Planning
      • Bachelor of Arts
    • Courses
    • People
      • Faculty
      • Lecturers
      • Emeriti
      • Students
      • Staff
    • Gallery
      • Student Work
      • Faculty Work
      • Studio Work
    • Advising
  • IURD
    • About IURD
    • Research
    • Master of Real Estate Development + Design (MRED+D)
      • About MRED+D
      • Admissions
      • Courses
      • People
    • Master of Urban Design (MUD)
      • About MUD
      • Admissions
      • Courses
      • People
    • BA in Sustainable Environmental Design
      • About SED
      • Courses
      • People
    • People
    • Gallery
    • Advising
  • About
  • Apply
  • Give
  • For Students
UC Berkeley logo
  • About
  • Apply
  • Give
  • For Students

About the Institute of Urban and Regional Development

  • IURD
    • About IURD
    • Research
    • Master of Real Estate Development + Design (MRED+D)
    • Master of Urban Design (MUD)
    • BA in Sustainable Environmental Design
    • People
    • Gallery
    • Advising
  • IURD
    • About IURD
    • Research
    • Master of Real Estate Development + Design (MRED+D)
    • Master of Urban Design (MUD)
    • BA in Sustainable Environmental Design
    • People
    • Gallery
    • Advising

IURD acts as a catalyst for public and private investments in adaptation and resilience, and foster new models of community-engaged research with tangible outcomes. We seek outcomes that provide actionable insights for decision makers that increase environmental justice and social equity, and enhance the value and co-benefits of public investments over time.

Our mission is to accelerate the creation of knowledge and capacity that will allow cities and regions to reduce their carbon emissions and adapt to a changing climate using strategies that promote social equity and healthy cities. To achieve this goal, IURD generates new pathways that lead to genuine action for change, building on partnerships with underrepresented communities, community activists, public agencies, elected leaders, private investors, academic researchers and UC Berkeley students. IURD shares these insights and tracks the outcomes of new actions using our robust capacity to disseminate the results of research conducted with our partners in the San Francisco Bay Area, in California and around the world.

Academic Programs

The Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD) is an interdisciplinary academic and research unit dedicated to prioritizing justice in initiatives to understand, mitigate and adapt to climate change. We are the College’s home for interdisciplinary degrees because achieving climate justice requires innovations that tap into many forms of knowledge about the built environment.

History

Since it was founded in 1962, IURD has worked to advance knowledge and practice in ways that make cities and regions economically robust, socially inclusive, and environmentally resourceful, now and in the future. Through collaborative, interdisciplinary research and praxis, IURD serves as a platform for students, faculty, and visiting scholars to critically investigate and help shape the processes and outcomes of dynamic growth and change of communities, cities, and regions throughout the world.

The Institute has produced research grappling with the accelerated pace of urban growth around the world that has spawned a host of complex problems related to housing, sprawl, transportation, environmental quality, poverty and the physical transformation of cities. Among the global challenges facing cities and regions today that have been tackled by IURD scholars are climate change, energy efficiency of cities, environmental justice, metropolitan ecosystems, green infrastructure, sustainable urban design, water-resource management, and urban distress in the Global South. For the most part, such problems cannot be solved through the lens of a single discipline but rather must rely on creative thinking and partnering among scholars and stakeholders across many fields and disciplines. In this capacity, IURD serves as a conduit for scholars and educators across many fields on the Berkeley campus to conduct collaborative research, train graduate and post-graduate students, and interact with and inform the practices of public agencies, the media, foundations, community leaders, and citizens. In so doing, cities and regions of the future can be more productive, resource-conserving, and socially just.

Important outlets for the creative ideas and work found at IURD are its Centers and collaborative partners with which IURD is associated. At present, IURD houses five centers, the Center for Community Innovation, the Center for Cities + Schools, the Center for Global Healthy Cities, Global Metropolitan Studies, and the Urban Analytics Lab. Its two related partners are the Urban Inequality and Poverty Collaborative, also housed at IURD, and the CED-backed Global Urban Humanities Initiative. These are where normative theories and critical thinking about cities and regions are forged, and get most directly expressed into practice.

IURD also provides a research home and support to individual faculty and graduate students from the university's professional teaching programs, including city planning, education, law, architecture, landscape architecture and environmental, social welfare, civil engineering, public health, and agriculture & resource economics.

Faculty Directors

Kristina Hill
Program Director of IURD; Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning and Urban Design
Photo of professor Acey
Charisma Acey
Research Director of IURD, Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning
×
Berkeley CED Logo

COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
University of California, Berkeley
230 Bauer Wurster Hall #1820
Berkeley, CA 94720-1820

  • ARCH
  • LAND
  • CITY
  • IURD
  • Contact
  • Visit
  • Faculty + Staff
  • Linkedin
  • Accessibility
  • Nondiscrimination
  • Privacy

© 2023 UC Regents; all rights reserved.     Credits