CSAU — Centrul de Studii Arhitecturale și Urbane is a research center within the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism (UAUIM) in Bucharest, Romania. Its mission is to study how urban and extra-urban territories are formed and transformed over time, with a focus on morphology, typology, architecture, historical evolution, and cultural development.67
The center positions itself as an applied research platform that connects students, PhD candidates, teachers, and professionals through exhibitions, workshops, conferences, symposia, training courses, and collaborative research activities.6 Its work is explicitly interdisciplinary, combining architectural, urban, anthropological, and engineering perspectives, and it emphasizes the idea of the cultural landscape as heritage in the study of territory and settlement.6
CSAU also promotes collaboration with Romanian and foreign institutions, as well as with scientific and cultural figures, to support dialogue and research exchange.6 Regular activities include CSAU-UAUIM symposiums held twice a year, in partnership with ROMEXPO, along with thematic meetings, presentations, and workshops.6 Based on the university’s research overview, CSAU’s thematic profile also includes Romanian architectural and urban culture in a broader European context.36
In relation to affordable and sustainable housing, CSAU is relevant mainly through its interest in the evolution, use, and planning of urban territory, and through research that links architecture to historical, cultural, and environmental contexts.6 While the page does not present CSAU as a housing policy or development agency, its territorial and urban studies can support more context-sensitive and sustainable approaches to the built environment.6