Programme - master governing ecological transitions in european cities

First year: fundamentals

Students have two semesters of courses on the fundamentals of urban studies, modes of governance and urban environmental issues in Europe:

• The first semester consists of core courses on the history of urban ecological transitions, urban governance, and environmental theories and policies.
• The second semester introduces the study of crucial environmental issues such as climate change in cities as well as major legal and economic issues. Students complete their study trip this semester as well.

During these two semesters, students also attend methodological workshops: GIS (geographic information system), statistics, and qualitative method.

Throughout the year, students work on a practical, professionally-focused group project: the group project.

Second year: professional competence and advanced theory

The third semester enables students to deepen their understanding with:

• Lectures: environmental policies of the European cities and territories, the cities as socio-ecological systems and the urban metabolism, the digital city, the risk and crisis management.
• Practical workshops on environmental accounting training: Material and energy flow analysis and carbon footprint.
• Professional workshops: the circular economy, mobility, energy, biodiversity, resilience, etc. These workshops are delivered by practitioners and are based on case studies, group work, and role-playing.

The fourth semester is given over to a professional internship of at least 14 weeks and preferably six months, supervised by the programme’s senior faculty. Students write an internship report at the end of the semester.

The students can also spend this semester on exchange at a partner university.

>> See the master's programme

Track (optional) 

Research Track

Students who intend to do a PhD can begin a research track in sociology or political science since the second semester of the Master's programme.