The Urban-Rural Systems Cluster aims to provide a platform of interdisciplinary research and academic collaboration for scholars working on the deepening intersection and interaction between urban and rural systems, both within and beyond the remit of HKU. The cluster will focus on four major theoretical inquiries:

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1. to disrupt urban-centric epistemologies of economic development and social progress;

2. to investigate the social, economic, and cultural possibilities that rural areas have in store for a significant proportion of population in the world;

3. to reveal the positive externalities that rural areas can produce for a planetary system, in terms of amenities, cultures, sustainability, etc.; and

4. to explore how the research findings can be implemented to inform urban-rural planning and policies.

Within the framework of the cluster, we will work with the four inquiries in innovative and constructive ways to deepen our understandings of sustainable urban-rural systems and planetary futures. In the pursuit of these research agendas, the cluster aims to produce high-impact research outputs and a series of academic events that foster dialogue, exchange, and collaboration.