Geography of North America and Urban Geography
The Urban Geography and North America research group (Prof. Dr. Ulrike Gerhard) focuses on the intersections of city and society. While our primary regional emphasis lies on North America and Europe, we also examine other world regions through comparative perspectives.
Our research projects span a wide range of topics, including sustainable urban development, inequality within and between cities, the role of authority and trust in housing markets, and the future of urban planning and design. Central themes include mobility, migration, globalization, and access, as well as locality and practices of place-making and belonging. These issues are explored through an interdisciplinary approach that bridges theory-building and applied research, often grounded in local case studies. A distinctive feature of our group is the close collaboration with the Heidelberg Center for American Studies, linked through a joint professorship. We also maintain strong connections with other university institutions, such as the Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies, the 4EU+ Alliance, and the SFB Collaborative Research Center Heimat(en). Teaching plays a central role in our work. We aim to integrate our research into engaging and innovative university teaching—encouraging students across disciplines to explore the key questions of urban geography and North American geography.
You can find the latest updates and videos about our work on our Instagram account.
Staff
Everyone in our research group helps to turn research, teaching and knowledge transfer into an overall concept that is more than just the sum of individual courses. All employees contribute to this, from student assistants to doctoral students and postdocs to the secretariat.
Research
The research group North America & Urban Geography analyzes current aspects of urban development from a theoretical-conceptual and applied perspective on an international level. Special emphasis is placed on inequalities in and between cities, sustainable action in urban society and authority and trust as factors in urban development.
Teaching
Teaching also plays an important role in the research group. The aim is to integrate the research topics into an appealing, innovative university curriculum, to impart qualitative methodological knowledge and thus to inspire students on the various degree courses with topics and issues relating to Urban Geography and the Geography of North America.
Activities
Excursions, participation in national and international projects as well as a stay at a US or various European universities are various possibilities that we offer as part of the degree program. However, because it is rarely possible to get an exact picture of the circumstances, the course of events and the general impressions of such experiences, we have collected many field reports. These reports are intended to give you an insight and whet your appetite for more urban geography.