Our Mission

The first decade of the 21^st century witnessed a tipping point: For the first time in human history, more people live in metropolitan areas than outside them. The world’s population, which doubled from 3 billion in 1960 to 6 billion in 2000, is projected to reach about 9 billion by 2050 before leveling off. Two-thirds of the world’s population will then live in metropolitan areas. This will stress on the world’s ecological, economic and political systems more so than presently.

The mission of the Metropolitan Research Center is to conduct basic and applied research on the built environment at the metropolitan scale, focusing on key forces shaping metropolitan form such as demographics, environment, technology, design, transportation, arts and culture, and governance. It seeks to expand knowledge in city and metropolitan affairs to improve policy and practice, and educate the general public on important issues facing communities. The Metropolitan Research Center shares knowledge through events, presentations, publications, a website and media outreach.

The Center is part of the strategic plan of the College of Architecture + Planning. That plan includes reshaping the undergraduate planning degree to be more inclusive of units across the University, launching a nationally accredited Master of City and Metropolitan Planning degree, creating a new Ph.D. in Metropolitan Planning, Policy and Design, and initiating the Metropolitan Research Center. The Center engages faculty and students from all three degree programs and other units across the University that are natural partners.

 Development in the US between 2005 and 2040 will further stress systems. More than 100 million new Americans are expected along with about 60 million new jobs. Two million homes will need to be built each year and non-residential construction may top two billion square feet annually. The Wasatch Front may double to more than four million people holding 2.5 million jobs. More than three-quarters of all non-residential space existing in 2000 will be rebuilt, as will a quarter of all homes. Nationally, development during this period is projected to exceed in volume two-thirds of everything built today, at a cost of more than $50 trillion; development in the Wasatch Front will exceed $500 billion.