The 820m2 Institute was built in 2002 with the ambition of:
- transforming our understanding as to how urban areas function generally, and in Ireland in particular;
- advancing our ability to model and analyse spatial information so as to improve the quality of decision-making;
- understanding the role of transport infrastructure design, investment and operation – in promoting sustainable development;
- integrating environmental and economic performance;
- contributing to the development and implementation of policy.
The institute received in excess of €6 million in funding under Cycle 2 of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions. Since then, it has funded itself through a number of prestigious awards from external funding sources including the European Commission, IRCHSS, IRCSET, SFI and the EPA. UII staff generated over €7.5 million in research funding between 2006 and 2010.
The UII has negotiated co-operation agreements with the European Commission Laboratories at Ispra, Italy and the University of Illinois, Chicago. In addition, UII investigators have on- going collaborations with a number of national and international organisations including: NUI Maynooth, Institute of Applied Physics, The Martin Centre, Cambridge University, Fraunhofer Institute, Technical University of Athens, University of California, Berkeley, University of Trondheim, Queens University, Canada and Washington State University.
