CURA's 25th Anniversary
On April 6th 2001, the Ohio State University Board of Trustees approved the formation of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA). The center was created with the goal to foster interdisciplinary research on urban and regional issues at the city, state, regional, national, and international levels.
In the decades since, hundreds of faculty, staff, and students at Ohio State have conducted urban research and outreach through CURA. Today, the center's standing as a hub for data-driven urban science is a testament to the work of its proponents years ago.
On April 10th, CURA celebrated its 25th anniversary with a special event honoring the center’s history, impact, and community partnerships. The program featured reflections from CURA co‑founders, university leadership, alumni, and community partners. The celebration also included formal commendations from the Ohio House and Senate, and the City of Columbus, recognizing CURA’s sustained contributions to public‑serving research across the region.
About
The Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA) is an interdisciplinary research innovation hub which brings together researchers from across campus to integrate spatial modeling and urban science to solve some of our communities most challenging problems. Founded in 2001, CURA has spent over two decades working with partners to solve complex geographic problems through research and outreach.
Mission
Our mission is research and outreach to foster more sustainable, resilient, and connected communities in Ohio and beyond using geospatial science and technologies.
Vision
We serve as a bridge across academia, industry, the public sector and the community through basic and applied urban research, research-based undergraduate and graduate training, and outreach. Our focus is environmental, social and economic sustainability of cities and regions in an urbanized world.
In the 1980’s, the state of Ohio distributed funds to eight universities for local or state-wide urban-related research and programs. The Ohio State University initially chose to distribute the funds directly to faculty via the Committee for Urban Affairs. However, following a lack of interdisciplinary interaction and limited visibility of urban scholarship on campus, a push began to develop an urban center at Ohio State. In 1995, dedicated faculty wrote a report to the Ad Hoc Committee on Applied Social and Public Policy advocating for resources for an urban research center. This led to the creation of the Public Policy Initiative Planning Committee (PPIPC) in 1997, a body meant to evaluate the university's strength in the public policy space. The committee determined the "urgent need at Ohio State for some formal structure that can further promote urban and regional research" and issued a call for proposals. The Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) provided funds for an interim organization, the Urban and Regional Analysis Initiative, to be led by Morton O'Kelly (Geography) and Hazel Morrow-Jones (City and Regional Planning).
Finally, on April 6th 2001, the Ohio State University Board of Trustees approved the formation of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA). The center was created with the goal to foster interdisciplinary research on urban and regional issues at the city, state, regional, national, and international levels. CURA was also designed to serve the urban research community at Ohio State and to provide a clearinghouse for urban-related research, data, and publications.
In the decades since, hundreds of faculty, staff, and students at Ohio State have conducted urban research and outreach through CURA. Today, the center's standing as a hub for data-driven urban science is a testament to the work of its proponents years ago
Support our work through the Center for
Urban Regional Analysis Support Fund.
Your generous gift will:
- Accelerate scholarship. Advance our groundbreaking
research on more sustainable, resilient and connected
communities in Ohio and beyond. - Build outreach. Expand our engagement with partners
across the community. - Amplify our voice. Shape campus and community
conversations through invited talks and events from
world-class thought and action leaders.