In its global, local, political, social, technical, economic and environmental dimensions, contemporary research represents a challenge requiring the mobilisation of a vast range of scientific and technical resources.
IMU is involved in the international promotion of urban research carried out by the University of Lyon, thus contributing to attracting top line skills, expertise and resources to the Lyon-Saint Etienne metropolis.

IMU is founded on recognised scientific excellence in fields associated with urbanisation: social and human sciences, information and communication sciences, and all sectors linked to civil engineering, urbanism and architecture, the environmental sciences, biology, and health.

6 Thematics

The IMU scientific community is articulated around 6 multidisciplinary scientific thematics in which all research is based on contributions from both the researchers in the community and practitioners from the socio-economic world.

More precisely, four approaches to research emerge:

This first structuring approach encompasses work on the various facets of the knowledge economy, its internal logics, its socio-spatial aspects, and the policies designed to support this new figure of capitalism.

The second corresponds to a comparative approach to political economy and governance in an urban contexts against the background of post-Fordism.

A third approach focuses on the impacts of globalisation and transformations in systems of production and trade in urban markets: labour markets, land and real estate markets, housing markets, and local monetary markets.

The fourth and last approach is based on the tried-and-trusted practice of transnational comparison.