European cities face many significant challenges, including the current economic crisis, urban sprawl, and the longer-term implications of climate change and resource scarcity. To face up to and overcome these challenges, it has become urgent for all concerned stakeholders to collaborate.URBAN-NEXUS, a coordination action, will develop and use structured dialogues to encourage communication, exchange knowledge and experiences, and build partnerships to promote joint research. The dialogues will involve a wide range of public, private, and civil society organisations from across the EU27; that are involved with urban research.URBAN-NEXUS has 3 main objectives:• Firstly, it aims to identify innovative ways for urban policy makers and researchers to collaborate to solve the complex and interrelated problems that confront sustainable urban development.• Secondly, it will increase awareness among relevant stakeholders in 5 thematic areas, and allow them to exchange knowledge, collaborate and cooperate.• Thirdly, it will make possible partnerships between relevant stakeholders, in particular researchers and those who apply knowledge, for long-term strategic cooperation across scales and disciplines.The 5 themes that frame the URBAN-NEXUS project are:• adapting to climate change;• increasing health and quality of life;• using land sustainably;• integrating urban management;• integrating information and monitoring.The URBAN-NEXUS consortium, which is led by the Nicis Institute, brings together leading knowledge institutes, research organisations, government agencies and large European-wide networks representing urban interests. Most of the partners participated in URBAN-NET, the European Research Area (ERA) network on urban sustainability formed in 2006. This ERA-Net aimed to strengthen the pan-European approach to urban research, forge links between the Member States’ urban research, and develop a common framework for policy orientated research and understanding. URBAN-NEXUS builds directly upon the success and efforts of URBAN-NET and will further develop its results and strengthen its partnerships, thereby making a valuable contribution to urban strategic research.