The programme engages with current intellectual and political concerns about urbanisation and urban spaces from international and interdisciplinary perspectives. Situated in core debates around these issues, the programme responds to current demands for training informed urban researchers and practitioners able to address urban challenges and potentials. It has a strong research basis and courses provide a number of novel and exciting dimensions.

In the first year, students will acquire an overview of the field of urban studies and its development. Students will then deepen their knowledge on current urban challenges in a global perspective as well as the growth of different urban conditions and forms. After this, students will hone their ability to investigate the relation between people's everyday lives and the physical forms of the city. At the end of the first year, an independent project is conducted.

During the second year, students will take elective courses amounting to 30 credits. To complete this part of the programme, students can choose to do an international exchange at one of Malmö University's partner universities or take elective courses at the Department of Urban Studies. The second year concludes with a master's thesis (30 credits).

The aim of the programme is to deepen students' knowledge of urban studies, preparing them to participate in research or qualified urban development investigations. It is aimed towards those genuinely interested in cities, urban life and all expressions of urbanity. The way that methods and skills are taught in the programme makes the curriculum particularly suited for students who dare to explore and to experiment.

What you will learn

The field of urban studies involves interdisciplinary studies of urban areas' content, form, planning and development.

You will learn about cities both as stable and slow-changing structures and as dynamically crossing flows of people and goods. You will also learn about urban visions, programmes and plans, and the various processes and projects that shape them. In addition, you will learn that the city is expressed and constructed through everyday life and through the unplanned and spontaneous actions that contribute to its atmosphere and attraction.

A distinct characteristic of the programme is the multidisciplinary foundation with roots in social sciences, arts, architecture and planning. Training students to switch between and combine modes of reasoning in these different domains is a distinct quality. The approach includes the development of critical understandings of the roles of different actors and processes in the making of cities and urban spaces. Students are trained as experts in urban research and/or the identification of current urban challenges. Unpacking urbanity by applying varied – and at times unorthodox – methods is a key signature of the programme. An important starting point is that students must be able to follow their own interests where possible.

The education takes place in the heart of the Öresund region, an area offering an abundance of examples of global urban development issues.