In 1988, Lewis Mumford and his wife were living in their home in Amenia, in upstate NY.  At this time, a group of urban scholars from the University at Albany visited the Mumfords to discuss their plans for a Center whose work would be both comparative and historical in scope.  The idea was to create an interdisciplinary venue where scholars could exchange ideas and collaborate on a wide range of projects focusing on the urban political economy.  With the Mumfords' endorsement, the Center was formally established on April 8, 1988. 

Since then, the Center has sponsored a number of local, national, and internationally-based initiatives, including: a pilot consultant project on public transportation in Kingston, Jamaica; a research project on the employment prospects of youth exiting foster care in New York State; and an interdisciplinary study concerning the dynamics of neighborhood change in the New York metropolis.   The Center has also organized or co-organized numerous seminars and international conferences, bringing together scholars from around the world.  Past seminars include: "Urban Visions"(1988); "A Tiger by the Tail: Local Responses to Economic Restructuring in Comparative Perspective" (1989); "Megacities of the Americas"(1990); "Gender, Space and Place"(1992); "The Campus Conference"(1994); and "Benton MacKaye and the Appalachian Trail" (1996).  International conferences include: "City, State, and Region in a Global  Order: Toward the 21st Century," held in Hiroshima, Japan, in December 1998, and  "The Future of Chinese Cities: A  Research Agenda for the 21st Century," held in Shanghai in July 1999.

Under the leadership of director Richard Alba, the Center is developing a new initiative on "Children in Newcomer and Native Families."  This new series of reports will seek to chart how children in newcomer families are faring, especially those growing up in families from Latin America and Asia.  In addition the Center continues activities of developed under the tenure of past director John Logan, including: 1) Census 2000; 2) Map NY; 3) Global Neighborhoods; 4) the Urban Historical Initiative; 5) the China Urban Research Network; and 6) the Hudson-Mohawk Regional Workshop. These projects examined the impact of changes on the U.S. metropolis and civil society, probed the 19th and early 20th Century roots of present-day cities and suburbs, and addressed urban change in other parts of the world, mostly notably China. The Center works in close collaboration on several of these projects with the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis (CSDA).

 The Center is at work planning a number of future projects, events, and activities for the next academic year.  To learn more about these, click on Center Activities and Resources.