Mistra Urban Futures is an international centre for sustainable urban futures, with headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. Mistra Urban Futures was set up because academics and local stakeholders in Gothenburg recognized that new ways of addressing urban challenges were needed if cities were to become truly sustainable. In 2010 the Mistra Urban Futures centre was born with a vision “to increase capacities to transform current, unsustainable urban development pathways to more sustainable urban futures in the global South and North”.

A key principle for the Centre is co-production – simply put, the idea that researchers and practitioners need to combine, integrate and share knowledge better if more sustainable urban futures are to be achieved. Sustainability is a complex and contested term. For Mistra Urban Futures, it is about the creation of Fair, Green and Dense cities. 

How can this be done? Mistra Urban Futures believes the answer lies in Local Interaction Platforms – or LIPs. Mistra Urban Futures has set up interaction platforms in four cities – Cape Town (South Africa), Gothenburg (Sweden), Greater Manchester (England) and Kisumu (Kenya).  All of the LIPs are co-funded and made up of local partnerships between different public, private and voluntary organizations.

A Global – Local Approach

Each of the cities involved in Mistra Urban Futures has developed different approaches to their local interaction platforms. The Greater Manchester Local Interaction Platform (GM LIP) is hosted by the Centre for Sustainable Urban and Regional Futures (SURF) in the School of the Built Environment (SoBE) at the University of Salford Manchester.  The University of Salford Manchester has supported the development of the GM LIP in the first stages, reflecting its commitment to contributing to sustainability across the city-region. The other partners in the GM LIP are AGMA’s Greater Manchester Low Carbon Hub, Creative Concern, the Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisations, Social Action and Research Foundation and the Biospheric Foundation.

The GM LIP aims to improve the relationship between research and practice in creating a sustainable Greater Manchester. We want to contribute to the possibility of a more systematic, integrated and inclusive urban transition through working on a range of research, practice and capacity-building activities to address two central questions:

• What is happening to the sustainable cities agenda in the context of the economic, political, social and ecological crises of the 21st Century?
• How can the knowledge and skills of different stakeholders and communities be brought together to support a more sustainable urban transition in Greater Manchester?

To get in touch with us, please contact the GM LIP Director Beth Perry on b.perry@salford.ac.uk.