Urban Renaissance Institute :: Regeneration Research, Training & Consultancy

A bit of history

The Urban Renaissance Institute (URI) was founded in October 2004 at the University of Greenwich, with early grant funding from the South East of England Development Agency.

Following initial ideas by Renaissance London on the capacity for developing the urban renaissance in London and the South East, the initial scoping for URI was informed by Sir John Egan’s work on skills for sustainable communities and the then emerging roles for the Regional Development Agencies in terms of the Sustainable Communities agenda. At the outset, the primary purposes of the Institute were to:

"Broker relationships and strengthen collaboration between universities, and between other key players in the urban renaissance domain, inter alia Local Authorities and other public bodies, Housing Associations/Registered Social Landlords, Large Interdisciplinary Professional Practices, and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs); and
Instigate innovative Urban Renaissance education and skills provision across the sector within the South East region."

The nature of the Institute is therefore innovatory in terms of its commitment to work across institutions and sectors, and to provide new opportunities for learning, whilst employing the best knowledge, skills and understanding available to achieve this.

Several years on, URI has established a strong track record of innovative work, creating new relationships and strengthening collaboration between the public and private sectors, bringing better urban education and skills provision across the built environment sector.

URI is part of the University of Greenwich linked to the School of Architecture & Construction.