URBAN RESEARCH - CLERICS OR EXPERTS

For a long time, urban research sought to prove its independence from the government. This is no longer the problem. Increasing demands for research and the involvement of researchers in both concrete operation s and general debates favor independence; but these factors also carry risks. Places should be developed where ''cumulativities'' can be man aged and scientific debates, organized. Posed between field work and t heory, as well as between disciplines, urban research can be a source of scientific progress.