Transforming Cities Through Data-Driven Research and Innovation
The Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC) is a world-leading centre of excellence for research, innovation, and advanced training in Urban Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to understand and shape urban life. For over a decade, we have pioneered the use of complex, novel data to generate new insights into urban systems, inform evidence‑based policymaking, and enhance quality of life in cities across the world.
Explore our research themes, projects and data engineering services to discover how UBDC is helping to build more fair, sustainable and hopeful urban futures.
What we do
Investigate
We push the boundaries of urban research by combining critical social science, advanced urban data analytics and Artificial Intelligence, drawing on complex, big and smart data sources.
Learn
We equip the next generation of urban data researchers and practitioners with cutting-edge, data‑driven methods and tools to generate robust policy insights.
Collaborate
We connect leading scholars, research engineers and practitioners from urban studies, data science, computer science, geography, economics, social policy and related fields to produce insights that are both technically rigorous and socially grounded.
Transform
Working closely with policymakers, governments, community organisations and interdisciplinary partners across the Global North and Global South, we deliver impactful, socially responsive urban data research and innovation.
Themes
A Research Hub for Understanding and Shaping Cities
UBDC combines computational and data‑intensive methods with critical, socially engaged research to examine how data and AI technologies shape and are shaped by people, communities and societies. At the heart of our mission is a commitment to identifying, understanding, and actively addressing urban inequalities, ensuring that data‑driven innovation supports more inclusive, equitable and just cities.
Our research is organised around five interconnected themes that tackle pressing challenges through cutting-edge methodological innovations:
Housing & Neighbourhoods
Revealing housing needs through smart data to advance adequate, affordable homes for all.
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Transport & Mobility
Uncovering travel behaviours and access patterns to drive more sustainable, equitable mobility.
Environment & Health
Exploring the links between urban environments and health to address inequalities and improve wellbeing.
Participatory Analytics
Placing people and communities at the centre of data innovation to co‑create just and sustainable urban futures.
City Modelling & Sensing
Expanding real‑time sensing and computational modelling to reimagine and design the cities of tomorrow.
news
Latest News from the Centre
UofG social scientists receive UKRI funding for data-driven research
UofG social scientists have received UKRI funding that will enable them to conduct data-driven research aimed at improving lives across Scotland and the UK
Turning Geospatial Data into Planning Decisions: Evaluating a Participatory Accessibility Model for Urban Drinking Water
Urban planning increasingly uses geospatial data and spatial models to map services, estimate travel time, and identify underserved populations. However, mapped proximity does not necessarily reflect real access. In rapidly urbanising Sub-Saharan African cities, true accessibility to services such as water depends not only on location, but also on functionality, quality, affordability, waiting time, and seasonal reliability. UBDC's Oluwatimilehin Adenike Shonowo has been conducting research into these multidimensional access challenges.
UBDC social scientist receives smart data research fellowship
Two social scientists at the University of Glasgow have been awarded Fellowships by Smart Data Research UK (SDR UK).
Projects
Explore some of our recent research projects
Changing travel behaviour
Understanding current travel behaviour is only part of a transport planner’s job as achieving targets relating to decarbonisation, air quality and physical activity will inevitably require substantial changes in how we travel.
Valuing energy efficiency and clean heating
There isno pathway to Net Zero without the near-complete decarbonisation of heat inhousing. In this project, we seek to provide high quality evidence on progressin relation to this goal to support public policy and wider debate.
Understanding use of urban greenspaces through big data
The overall aim of this project is to incorporate mobile phone data to better understand human interactions with urban greenspaces and how this dynamic has changed for different sectors of the population throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.
Delivering Global Influence and Real-World Impact
Services
Explore our Data and Engineering Services
Learning
Learning Opportunities at UBDC
Our advanced training programmes equip the next generation of researchers with high-level, sought-after skills in urban and transport analytics. Under our guidance, MSc and PhD students can benefit from access to our rich data resources and technical expertise.
Explore our Master’s, PhD and advanced training opportunities.
Our Strategic Partners
We work in partnership with academics, governments, businesses, non-governmental and civic organisations around the world. Through joint projects and by leveraging our research expertise alongside our data and engineering service, we develop groundbreaking data-intensive research and innovation.
We currently have close partnerships with Glasgow City Council and Glasgow City Region, Edinburgh City Council, UN-Habitat, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, Brazil Ministry of Cities, Zoopla, GALLANT, and North Lanarkshire Council.
Explore examples and testimonials on the value we deliver to project partners worldwide.
Meet our team and join the UBDC Community
At UBDC, you’ll join an international community of researchers, data scientists, social scientists and innovators using data and AI to understand and improve urban life. Our team brings together diverse expertise and perspectives to tackle the complex challenges facing cities worldwide.
Visit our people pages to meet the researchers, technical specialists and partners who make UBDC a leading centre for urban analytics and AI. Be part of our vibrant community by following our updates, sharing insights and engaging in conversations about data innovations and AI in urban policy.
Vanessa Galeano Duque
Researcher
Xingyi Du
PhD Student Researcher
Yuchen Xie
PhD student researcher
Jiazhi Zhu
PhD student researcher
Haoyu Tian
PhD student researcher
Sebastian Hafner
Research Associate
Mingyu Zhu
Research Assistant
Luning Li
Research Associate in Urban Analytics
Oluwatimilehin Shonowo
PhD Student researcher
Yuxiao Li
PhD student researcher
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Jointly funded by
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