Practice & Research Areas

Our History

The Center for Urban Policy Research (CUPR) traces its roots back to 1959, when the Ford Foundation provided a significant grant to Rutgers University to establish an urban research and service function. In 1969, Rutgers designated CUPR to perform these functions, and in 1992 this center joined the new Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. CUPR established an international reputation during its first half-century for research on affordable housing, land use, smart growth planning and the costs of sprawl, land development practice, historic preservation, infrastructure assessment, environmental and energy policy, public finance, fiscal and economic impact analysis, and community economic development. A proud legacy achievement was CUPR Press which published over 150 books and was praised as a “press of record” in urban planning, community and economic development and related fields.

CUPR has evolved to address salient issues as they have emerged over the decades. In 2021, CUPR joined forces with other units within the Bloustein School including the Rutgers Center for Green Building, Environmental Analysis and Communication Group, Center for Energy Environmental and Economic Policy, and Bloustein Center for Local Government Research. This merger has brought strong capabilities for addressing today’s challenges including climate change adaptation and mitigation, coastal hazards, environmental justice, a healthier built environment, the sustainable energy transition, and technological transformations affecting daily life and local governance.

CUPR’s core group of faculty, staff, and students comes from urban planning, public policy, public administration, and public informatics; and its wider network both within Bloustein and elsewhere at Rutgers and other academic and research institutions includes frequent collaborators in environmental science, environmental psychology, public health, architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, and computer science.