Currently, research is carried out in three graduate programs in the Department of City and Regional Planning: Urban Lab in City Planning Graduate Program; Regional Planning Graduate Program; and Urban Design Graduate Program. In addition to these, there is a Research Center of the Faculty of Architecture, RICBED, various individual research projects carried out by the members of the department, and an urban and regional research network platform, KBAM. Research interests of the faculty covers a wide range: urban and regional geography, regional planning and policy, urban and regional governance, institutional transformation, planning history, strategic spatial planning, risk analysis and planning for disaster, housing policy, urban history, urban conservation, urban archeology, sustainable development, urban transport, urban design, ecological planning, etc.

MATPUM (RICBED)

METU Faculty of Architecture Research Implementation Centre for Built Environment and Design (RICBED) was founded in order to reformulate and reorganize the traditionally very active research efforts of the Faculty in a well-integrated structure. RICBED is aiming to carry out research, design, planning and implementation activities that pertain to emphasize cutting edge, socially responsible and highly integrated research patterns. This effort will rely on the capacities of our departments of architecture, planning and industrial design, as well as that of the researchers of other departments of METU and the research capacities of the national and international networks as needed.

URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH NETWORK (KBAM)

KBAM- URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH NETWORK was established in 2003 by a group of volunteers in Middle East Technical University, Department of Regional Planning-Ankara/Turkey to provide a platform of cooperation and knowledge dissemination among individuals who are actively engaged in urban and regional research.

The main aim of this research network is to create a collaborative work for exploring and understanding on contemporary spatial issues, to facilitate exchange of information between the people that work on different aspects of urban and regional subjects, to support common areas of interest and to enable the preparation of joint activities among the different members of this network.