The Cluster for Research in Architecture and Urbanism of Cities in the Global South (CRAUCGS)

July 31, 2021

The Cluster for Research in Architecture and Urbanism of Cities in the Global South (CRAUCGS)

The Cluster for Research in Architecture and Urbanism of Cities in the Global South (CRAUCGS) at the University of Strathclyde includes research expertise in the socio-spatial practice of migrant and minority communities, lifestyle trends and housing transformations, urban traditions and user-centred assessment, and architectural design pedagogy.

Our goal is to develop quality research and to maximise impact through dissemination and research-led teaching, while influencing policy and decision-making. We strive to respond to critical questions, central to the global south, on urban growth, continuity and fragmentation; regenerating historic cities; the quality of urban life, health and liveability; architectural identity and multiculturalism.
Our research

The Cluster was established in 2014 by Prof Ashraf Salama to address architecture and urban transformations in the global south including Africa, Central and Latin America, most of Asia and the Middle East, and North Africa (MENA).

We examine the sharp dichotomies within the global south where architectural and urban spectacles are developed in tandem with environmental degradation, ethnic and regional conflicts and displacements and political and economic instability. Our research addresses the severe dualities of urban transformations and place production towards enhancing decision making and improving peoples’ lives.

Visit here: https://www.strath.ac.uk/research/subjects/architecture/architectureurbanismintheglobalsouth/

Michael Crosbie interviews Ashraf Salama on possible outcomes in a post-coronavirus world.

How Might the COVID-19 Change Architecture and Urban Design? Ashraf M. Salama, a professor at the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, Scotland, and the director of the Cluster for Research in Architecture and Urbanism of Cities in the Global South, has been following how these disciplines might be changing. He’s recently written a publicly peer-reviewed paper on some of his findings: “Coronavirus Questions That Will Not Go Away: Interrogating Urban and Socio-Spatial Implications of COVID-19 Measures.” I sat down with Salama to discuss some of the issues he raises, and what their implications might be for the built environment in the future (7 May 2020) (Feature image taken from CommonEdge by Andy Yueng, as part of his “Urban Density” drone series).