Wurster Hall is home to two campuswide organized research units that provide research facilities and support to faculty and graduate students from the College of Environmental Design and other departments and programs at UC Berkeley:

• The Center for Environmental Design Research (CEDR) fosters research in environmental planning and design, ranging from the local environments of people within buildings to region-wide ecosystems, from small details of building construction to large-scale urban planning, from the history of the built environment to the design process itself. CEDR manages and edits Places, the main journal in the U.S. principally focused on urban design.
   
• The Institute of Urban and Regional Development (IURD) helps scholars and students understand the dynamics of communities, cities, and regions while informing public policy at local, state, and national levels.
   

Other research centers and groups at the College of Environmental Design include:

Berkeley Center for New Media (BCNM). New media can transform how we perceive, learn, communicate, and experience the world. What is "new" is accelerating rapidly with emerging technologies, yet remains deeply rooted in powerful aesthetic, cultural, and political forces. The Berkeley Center for New Media, located at the center of design and information technology, is based in a public research university known for alternative thinking. The center's mission is to critically analyze and help shape developments in new media from cross-disciplinary and global perspectives that emphasize humanities and the public interest.

Building Resilient Regions (BRR). BRR uses the lens of economic and demographic regional challenges to investigate why regions matter now, what constitutes resilience in the face of these challenges, and what factors (including regional asset bases, governance modes, actor choices and civic practices) help to build and sustain regional resilience. The project interweaves quantitative data analysis, qualitative case studies, and other targeted methods, including GIS mapping, organizational surveys, and content analysis. 

Center for the Built Environment (CBE). CBE is a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center whose goal is to provide timely, unbiased information on new building technologies and design techniques. CBE research is supported and guided by CBE industry partners, a consortium of building industry leaders committed to improving the design, operation, and performance of commercial and institutional buildings.

Center for Cities & Schools. The Center for Cities & Schools bridges the fields of city planning, community development, and education to re-imagine and re-create policies and practices that support the whole life of a learner. We do so through education, research, and collaborative practice on the following topics: Leadership in Collaborative Governance; Youth, Schools, & Planning; School Facilities & Neighborhoods; and Housing & Education.

Center for Community Innovation (CCI). CCI nurtures effective solutions that expand economic opportunity, diversify housing options, and strengthen connection to place. The work of the center focuses on four topic areas: revitalizing neighborhoods; developing economic resilience; designing and programming for the public realm; and producing and preserving affordable housing.

Center for Global Metropolitan Studies. By the year 2025, the world’s population will reach 8,000,000,000, and almost 60% of those people will live in metropolitan regions. Around the globe, this growth in metropolitan areas is already affecting nature, the built environment, and society in profound ways. The Center for Global Metropolitan Studies coordinates research and instruction among faculty from many departments and schools to better understand the implications of worldwide growth in metropolitan areas and to develop strategies to improve urbanization processes and outcomes. The center supports the undergraduate urban and metropolitan studies major and two interdisciplinary graduate teaching groups in Comparative Metropolitan Studies, and Infrastructure & the Environment.

Green Buildings Research Center. The Green Buildings Research Center is a permanent campus institution dedicated to research and teaching about sustainable design and to improving the sustainability of buildings on campus. Because Berkeley has by far the largest building research establishment in the UC system, this center could grow to involve other campuses systemwide.

The International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE). IASTE is concerned with the comparative and cross-cultural understanding of traditional habitat as an expression of informal cultural conventions. IASTE’s purpose is to serve as an umbrella association for all scholars studying vernacular, indigenous, popular, and traditional environments. Activities are centered around its biennial conferences, and the publication of Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review and the Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Working Paper Series. The conferences, attracting audiences of over 300 participants, are held in different locations worldwide.

Shrinking Cities Group. Today, every 6th city in the world can be defined as a “shrinking city”. This is a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing cities, parts of cities, or metropolitan areas that are experiencing a dramatic decline in their economic and social bases.  The causes of this urban decline are many and complex. The Shrinking Cities Group comprises academics and planning professionals across four continents and addresses the global phenomena of cities experiencing dramatic decline in their economic and social bases.