The Global Urban Commons’s goal is to build awareness around urban research agendas and urbanization issues in the 21st century. The Global Urban Commons includes a dynamic searchable global directory of urban research organizations and resources including global urban research and news related to global urbanization trends. It aims to expose scholars and practitioners to ideas that they might not otherwise encounter.
The project emerged from discussions about encouraging global urban research dialogues at The Sustainable Urbanization: Place Matters Summit, a convening of fifty researchers from around the globe in March 2014 in Philadelphia to discuss urban research agendas in Philadelphia.