The group approaches this through three perspectives:
- the development and transformation of cities and places (policy, governance and planning)
- the experiential dimension and culture of cities and places (urbanity, urban character and lived experience)
- the physical form and organisation of cities and places (urban form, architecture, structure and organisation).
Together, these three perspectives emphasise an understanding of cities and places as physical, spatial and historical structures, in which material, political, economic and social processes are understood and analysed through their physical manifestation in urban form, architecture, infrastructure and landscape. This provides a distinct disciplinary perspective.