中德城镇化与地方性研究实验室(Sino-German Joint Laboratory on Urbanization and Locality Research, UAL)，由中国北京大学建筑与景观设计学院、德国莱布尼兹汉诺威大学建筑与景观学院共同设立。实验室的研究基于学科交叉展开，成员来自城市规划、景观学、建筑学、生态学、旅游等多个专业。
城镇化是人类经济社会发展的客观要求和必然产物，是一个国家或地区经济社会发展进步的重要反映和标志，也是当今世界最引人注目的社会、经济和地理现象之一。中国经过30多年的传统城镇化进程，城镇化率已经超过50%，但也导致城镇的形态和景观的破碎化、孤岛化等现象，城镇文化内涵和地域特色逐渐消失。
UAL实验室认为，目前的城镇化过程中，城市同质性、“千城一面”的问题愈演愈烈，因此必须强调保持并发展地方性，即延续地方固有的自然和文化要素所形成的地方特色。地方性是一个动态的概念，包含细致研究一个区域的遗产状况，并对其进行保护和发展。在UAL实验室第一阶段，即2016-2018年的研究中，正对中国大运河和城市运河沿河城镇的景观转变进行考察，并以此为实例，制定规划设计原则，从而在城镇化进程中实现地方特色的保护和发展。在中国、德国及世界各地面向未来的城市化策略中，地方性和地方认同的建立是实现城市可持续发展的重要因素。UAL实验室的研究目标和工作重点正与此相一致。
Sino-German Joint Laboratory on Urbanization and Locality Research (UAL) is established jointly by the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Peking University, China and the Faculty of Architecture and Landscape Sciences, Leibniz University Hanover, Germany. UAL has an interdisciplinary perspective and includes experts from Urban Planning, Landscape Architecture, Architecture, Ecology and Tourism.
Urbanization, an irreversible trend for economic and social development of mankind, can be seen as an important index of prosperity and social progress in the country and region. Besides, urbanization is a socio-economic and geographic phenomenon that receives the most intense and increasing concerns. After the past 30 years of rapid development, the urbanization rate in China has exceeded 50%. However, it also leads to fragmentation in urban morphology and landscape. Urban cultural and regional characteristics have gradually disappeared.
The Sino-German Joint Laboratory on Urbanization and Locality Research (UAL) addresses this problem of increasing uniformity and aims to maintain and develop locality, which means the specific character of a place with its inherent natural and cultural elements. Locality implies a careful study of an area´s heritage, it is about preservation and development, and it is a dynamic concept. In the first research phase of the UAL from 2016-2018, the transforming urban landscapes along the Grand Canal in China and German canals are studied and will serve as relevant examples to develop planning and design principles in order to achieve an urbanization which preserves and develops the local character. With these research aims, the UAL is in line with future-orientated urbanization strategies in China, Germany and all over the world, where locality and identity are seen as important factors to achieve sustainable urban development.
