Centre for Urban Design, Architecture and Sustainability

The overarching ethos of CUDAS is that design informs all aspects of academic research into architecture and the built environment, whether  approaching from the historical, cultural, or environmental context, and whether taking a theoretical, practical or technical standpoint.

CUDAS is an interdisciplinary research centre that comprises interests focusing on a range of linked areas: Urban and Neighbourhood Design, Architectural Practice, History and Theory, Visualisation , and Sustainable Environments and Sustainable Living, and also important aspects of Teaching and Pedagogy.. Research disseminating from these groups operates at many scales and levels, but a common thread throughout these investigations is a concern about the integration of architectural, environment and urban design. Accordingly, the overarching ethos of CUDAS is that design informs all aspects of academic research of the built environment. CUDAS is currently led by Dr Adrian Pitts Professor of Sustainable Architecture.

Through its diverse community of researchers, comprising academic staff, research fellows and a strong cohort of PhD students from around the world, CUDAS takes a broadly inter-disciplinary and integrated approach to key areas of focus in architecture and urban design. This both builds upon historical precedents and also advances new theoretical and practical possibilities for the built environment and the city-at-large.

The Centre has been recipient of a number of research grants (British Academy, AHRC, Erasmus + and Chinese funded research projects) and has organised/co-hosted some major conferences, symposia and exhibitions in the UK, Italy and China. CUDAS members have also produced substantial published outputs, including authored books, edited books, refereed journal papers and special issue journals.