Graduate profile: Alexandre Moity

During the Master’s, the courses offered allowed me to better understand what aspects of urbanism and city planning I was most interested in. I quickly realized it was three-fold : public spaces, mobility, and housing. I eventually narrowed it down to housing after being able to explore these topics more in-depth throughout the Master’s programme. Naturally, I looked for an internship in that sector and was kept-on as a full-time hire after that.

I found that the Sciences Po Urban School had the best balance of theory and practice : a lot of attention is given to the theory, policy and social science aspect, but these are completed by real-time ‘in the field’ experiences such as the study trip, the capstone (group project), the workshops and of course the internship semester. Another important aspect to me was the commitment shown by the Urban School with the amount of events such as conferences, debates and so on that were organized for the students to attend.

In my view, the Urban School did a great job at preparing us for exactly that, especially through the workshops which are carried out by professionals during our penultimate semester. After becoming much more familiar with the theoretical and critical aspects of urbanism, these allowed us to experiment at how they are most effectively implemented in the professional world. Of course, there are still unwritten rules and petty politics at the workplace, but the Urban School equipped us with the essential skills and confidence to navigate these challenges.

I would encourage students to not limit themselves to only one theme of urban studies - if you’re really into mobility planning, learn more about housing. If you’re really into housing, learn more about sustainability. Don’t be afraid to experiment as much as you want during the Master’s : it will always be much more interesting and rewarding to try something new and take risks than to stick to what is already asked and answered.