MOSPUS develops theoretically informed and critical research on the themes of space, place, mobility and urban studies. The group brings together researchers from a variety of disciplines that include geography, sociology, anthropology, planning and architecture. Our work is guided by a strong commitment to social justice and to making more sustainable and democratic futures.

This commitment is exemplified by our interest in developing and deploying critical research methodologies. Many of us have focused on meaningful engagement with the communities and practitioners with which we work, including through the use of participatory, action and advocacy-oriented research methods and the maintenance of ongoing community interactions and collaborations.

Part of our efforts to conduct research that reaches beyond the university is the development of creative methodologies and research communication. These approaches include visual and digital media, art practice, ethnography, participatory knowledge production, ‘future creating’ workshops, and advocacy- and policy-oriented outputs.

Research themes include:

• Cities and planning: urban planning, politics, social innovation, empowerment, sustainability, local and regional economies, participatory design, utopian visions
• Mobilities: migration, travel, sustainable transport, everyday urban mobilities and practices
• Everyday life and cultural diversity: embodied encounters, difference, alterity and citizenship, othering
• Materialities and design: architecture, material culture, lighting, mobile technologies, cultural heritage, practices of use
• Spatial politics: geopolitics, (trans)national identities, urban art and performance, natural resources, nature management and parks, state-building, violence
• Tourism and cultural industries: experiences, performance, place design, regional development

Our researchers collaborate extensively with local and international colleagues, and they are active in a number of interdisciplinary research centres at RUC.