Overview

The Urban Institute was established on December 1st, 2015 as a leading economic, engineering, law, and medical research institute within Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. The main focus of the Institute is to conduct empirical and theoretical research on complex urban and sustainable development challenges in order to provide effective policy recommendations. The Inclusive Wealth Report (IWR) published by the Institute’s collaborative researchers and sponsored by the UN Environment Programme is the first of its kind to define economic growth in a modern, holistic manner that aligns with the inclusive growth notions outlined in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including the value for infrastructure, health, education, and nature. As such, the Urban Institute and the IWR are pioneering internationally-accepted standards for promoting inclusive, sustainable growth through the UN and other reputable supranational organizations.

Through multi-faceted, multi-disciplinary approaches, the Institute addresses a broad array of sustainable development challenges that underlie an increasingly digitalized, globalized, 21st century society. These include:

Urbanization and regional development
New transportation system
Next-generation energy
Low-carbon transportation
Eco-friendly infrastructure
Emissions reductions, waste management, and pollution controls
Climate change mitigation and adaptation
Biodiversity preservation
Agriculture, livestock, forestry, and land use
Green innovation, finance, and technology transfers
Natural disaster preparedness
Environmental and trade regulations
Medical valuation
Aging population
Health, education, and social welfare

To date, the Urban Institute has published novel research in a wide range of leading peer-reviewed journals, including:

Nature
Science
Nature Sustainability
Global Environmental Change
Environmental Research Letters
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management
Journal of Banking and Finance
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control
The Energy Journal
Experimental Economics
Land Economics
Environmental and Resource Economics
Journal of Regulatory Economics
Resource and Energy Economics

To be the best in economic research on sustainable urban and regional development problems and provide policy recommendation in collaboration with international and local authorities to achieve sustainable development.