The HUMAN CITY institute (HCi) is an independent and charitable ‘think tank’ with its origins in Birmingham, which undertakes research into ‘human city’ issues. This involves identifying barriers to the creation of more ‘human’ cities and neighbourhoods generally but with specific regard to the nature of social and economic exclusion and how they are interwoven with faith and BME issues.

HCi also seeks to map how community cohesion can be improved through enhanced, localised service delivery and via social investment and enterprise approaches. In short, HCi investigates exclusion and promotes solutions to augment the futures of the most disadvantaged groups in our complex and diverse cities.

Research Themes
Originally a faith-based initiative created in 1997 which sought to develop experimental ‘human neighbourhoods’, HCi today is a secular research institute, although maintaining some links to its previous research interests. HCI is currently undertaking research under six themes:

	Creating the Human City ~ covering primarily the policy areas of housing, health, and community development.
	Faith, Ethnicity & Exclusion ~ including the geography of faith and BME groups and their relative social and economic exclusion.
	Urban Social Investment, Enterprise & Innovation ~ covering the role of social investment approaches and development of innovative, social enterprises within communities to alleviate poverty and disadvantage.
	Chronicling Human City Community Projects & Approaches ~ incorporating longitudinal and case studies of human neighbourhood projects and approaches.
	Sustainable Human Environments ~ build around studies of how local human environments can be made more sustainable in relation to the wider world.
	Human City Index ~ constructed around data that enables measurement of such concepts as community well-being and individual ‘happiness’.

Research Programme Delivery
HCi delivers its research programme via a network of associate researchers and in partnership with other research organisations, including the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, University of Birmingham, and M-E-L (Measurement-Evaluation-Learning) Research Ltd.