The Cities Programme is an international centre dedicated to the understanding of contemporary urban society. Its central objective is to relate physical structure to the social structure of cities.
The programme is the graduate education branch of LSE Cities|, which is hosted by the Department of Sociology|, and offers degree courses at MSc and PhD level.
News
Book launch: City, Street and Citizen
12 June 2012, 6.30-8pm, Alumni Theatre, New Academic Building, LSE
Dr Suzanne Hall discusses her new book City Street and Citizen: The Measure of the Ordinary (Routledge) with Caroline Knowles, Professor of Sociology and Head of the Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmiths. This event is co-hosted by LSE Cities and the Sociology Forum and chaired by Dr Claire Alexander. It is open to the public, seating allocated on a first come first served basis. For more details see event page|.
For more about the book please see publisher's webpage City, Street and Citizen| or read CSC outline and reviews| (PDF).
Listen to Suzi talk about London's Walworth Road (pictured above, photo courtesy of Axel Drainville) on the BBC World Service programme One Planet, 25 February 2012. Is it possible to plan a city from the top down? Is there a balance between grand planning designs and community evolution? Follow this link: One Planet: The New Town Nobody Wanted|
MSc field trip to Ahmedabad
This year's students visited CEPT University in the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat, northwest India from 18-25 March. The pictures to the right are by students Joshua Simoneau (top) and Adriana Young (middle and bottom). For more information on all our field trips to date please follow the link in the contents panel to MSc City Design and Social Science, or for more about this year's trip, with a report from MSc student Guy Trangos and a selection of pictures taken by our students, go to Ahmedabad 2012|. The annual field trip is made possible by a generous donation from the Ove Arup Foundation. 
Sabarmati riverfront by Jorge Martin
Writing Cities 2012
The annual conference is organised by graduate researchers at the Cities Programme, the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT, MIT Media LAB, Harvard Graduate School of Design and Harvard Law School. This year's conference was held in Cambridge, MA from 10-12 May 2012, on the theme 'Limits'.
The second volume of working papers from the 2011 conference held at LSE, Writing Cities 2: 'Distance and Cities: Where do we stand?' has now been published and is available to read as a PDF from our PhD programme page.
'Making Cities More Resilient: Educating the next urbanists'
Read an interview with Cities Programme director Dr Fran Tonkiss on this topic in online magazine The Atlantic|.
MSc and PhD applications
Applications for entry to the MSc City Design and Social Science 2012 are open but will be closing soon. PhD applications are closed for entry in 2012. For more information about studying for the MSc or for a PhD in the Cities Programme follow the links under Contents. For important information about the application procedure (all applications are made centrally to the LSE Graduate Admissions Office) please follow this link to LSE Graduate|.
Urban@LSE
Urban@LSE| is an internal coordinating body for all urban teaching and research at LSE and an informal network of staff and postgraduate students. The website is a portal where information about the departments, research centres and projects, and teaching programmes involved can be found in one place, with links to all of them.
City Street 
The 2011 Studio publication is based on the MSc students' work on 'High Street 2012', the six kilometre stretch of road running from Aldgate to Stratford - a series of local high streets that is also a major urban corridor leading to the Olympic site. The area associated is currently part of planning and design initiatives addressing the role of London’s high streets, as well as the substantial regeneration of London’s East End. The students look at specific challenges faced by different sites along the route and suggest creative strategies for urban intervention. This and previous Studio publications are available to read online as PDFs, see
Cities Studio publications|.
Cities Programme alumni
To find out about Cities alumni and their current occupations follow the Cities alumni and careers link under Contents. If you are a former student on the MSc or PhD programme and would you'd like to be added to the list or update your details please contact us.