As inflation rates ease and policymakers declare the end of the cost-of-living crisis, quieter challenges are taking hold in cities like Manchester. For households on local wages, the real issue is not just whether food prices are rising, but which foods are...

When Daniela Cocco Beltrame travelled to Rabat for the 2025 International Sociological Association Forum, she encountered an academic gathering that offered far more than formal sessions: moments of surprise, creative expression, and critical exchange revealed the...

Every autumn the University of Manchester slowly awakes from hibernation and lumbers into the new academic year. This awakening is accompanied by the springtime optimism of new beginnings, even as darkness descends on the city in the afternoons. Fresh-faced students...

MUI PGR Maria Hernandez-Montilla reflects on her experience at the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology earlier in the year and discovers some unexpected links between researching rural and urban policy. As part of MUI's commitment to supporting early stage researchers, several...

PhD students, Arielle Lawson, Ellie Barker, Sandhya Sharma, Philippa Winship and Shengjun Zhang share their experience collaborating with local community groups to organise a series of film screenings on 'social justice and the city' (funded by the Interdisciplinary...

MUI Deputy Director Anupam Nanda emphasises the need to look beyond politics, advocating for greater focus on environmental, social and governance issues in regulating the built environment to address climate change. We are already experiencing profound impacts of...

Authors Thomas van Laake (University of Manchester) and Graeme Sherriff (University of Salford) reflect on the challenges of putting active travel policy into practice in Greater Manchester and discussions at a recent event co-hosted by Manchester Urban Institute,...

In April 2024, students in the Manchester-Toronto International Doctoral Cluster visited Canada to take part in the Manchester-Melbourne-Toronto Enrichment Academy. Thomas Van Laake (University of Manchester) and Élyse Comeau (University of Toronto) discuss the many...

Economic austerity has deepened and widened across the UK due largely to the ever-rising cost of living and the wider effects of Brexit, the pandemic recovery, political instability and the pressure of overseas conflicts. Many more individuals and households have been...

Encouraging active travel and supporting community health and wellbeing through the co-production of local green routes with local community partners | Joanna Barrow, Manchester Urban Institute The previous blog in this series outlined good practice for community...