page_title: Center for Urban and Regional Analysis
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Center for Urban and Regional Analysis / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Location of CURA
context_page_description: Center for Urban and Regional Analysis
  The Center for Urban & Regional Analysis is an interdisciplinary research organization of The Ohio State University. CURA's mission is to serve as a bridge across academia, industry, and the policy sector by providing spatial analysis of economic, social, environmental, and health issues in urban and regional settings in Ohio and beyond. The organization explores various social, political, economic, geographic, economic, and public health issues using Geographic Information Systems and other spatial analysis techniques. CURA also offers a speaker series which brings a wide range of speakers to campus each semester.
context_section_description: The movement for an urban center began in 1995 with a recommendation from the Committee on Applied Social and Public Policy.  Funding followed three years later in 1998.  CURA then was formed at The Ohio State University in 1999 as the Urban and Regional Analysis Initiative (URAI).  Two years later, in April 2001, the organization officially renamed itself the Center for Urban & Regional Analysis and was given final approval by the Board of Trustees.  The change was announced in the University's newspaper, The Lantern.  The organization was projected to receive $240,000 per year in funding from the state of Ohio along with an additional $150,000 from the Office of Academic Affairs.
caption: CURA is located in Derby Hall, on the Oval at Ohio State.
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