Caroline Bruzelius's research focuses on the impact of the Franciscans and Dominicans on the medieval city. It concerns how new religious practices (preaching outdoors, visiting laymen in domestic spaces, and burying laymen in churches) affected church design and urban space.

Her traditional research fields are medieval architecture, urbanism, and sculpture. She has worked on cathedrals in France and elsewhere in Europe. Her most recent book, Preaching, Building, and Burying: Friars in the Medieval City (Yale University Press, 2014) examines the impact of the mendicant orders on medieval architecture and cities. Two new projects have to do with the financing of cathedrals and the role of architecture in the longue durée of architecture in the Kingdom of Sicily.

Bruzelius is also deeply committed to exploring how new digital technologies can help us to communicate narratives about the built environment. She is committed to working with the "Wired!" group to integrate these new technologies with teaching.