An inaugural brainstorming workshop aimed at paving the way for a sound urban research proposal recently took place at AIT Conference Center on 25th of January 2008. The event attracted many experts from the academia and professionals from governing bodies of ten Asian countries, among others. Prof. S.K. Rakshit, AIT Vice President for Research, Dr. Khin Ni Ni, Vice President for Development and Resources and Dr. Kyoko Kusakabe, Acting Dean, SERD welcomed the foreign delegates and reflected on the topic of Urban Asian Research proposal planning. AIT faculty from Urban Environmental Management (UEM) field of study, as well as from other related field of studies, expressed their views and suggestions about the research proposal. The participants gathered for deliberation on research themes, modalities of research consortia and the prospective research partners. Views of all the participants about the research thematic areas were sought in the day-long workshop. Three broad areas were explored during the discussion. Governance, Environment and Infrastructure were unanimously identified as the key research domains, encompassing cross-cutting research topics related to gender, equity and poverty, migration and rural-urban linkages. The workshop culminated with preliminary commitments for collaboration in a research proposal planning project from the participants.