MSC REDESIGNING THE POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY:

A new European Master program to provide innovative solutions for post-industrial cities

The Redesigning the Post-Industrial City (RePIC) Master program, developed within the scope of UNIC ("European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Transition"), is now open for applications for its first cohort. The comprehensive 2-year study programme responds to the challenges of post-industrial cities around the world and their residents by providing high-quality education and challenge-based design thinking skills for urban contexts. The program will start in Fall 2023, and the deadline for applications is 31 May 2023 (for EU and non-EU applicants).

The RePIC program is delivered in English and aims to attract future urban designers, managers, and curators from a wide range of disciplines and countries that want to help achieve the United Nations’ New Urban Agenda and the urban dimensions of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Every fifth city in the world has a (post-)industrial legacy and thus, needs corresponding expertise for sustainable, resilient and competitive urban development. The programme has been designed to give extensive opportunities to students to enhance their employability by engaging with real urban challenges through collaborations involving community groups, city governments, and specialist researchers. This will involve team-based practices and co-design approaches through CityLabs that include workshops, hackathons, sprints, panel discussions, interviews, and courses.

The programme goes beyond existing urban planning offerings and includes topics such as: superdiversity in urban contexts; innovation and digitalisation of public administration; open space governance and management; resilient cities, healthy urban planning in European cities; cultural economy, heritage economy and tourism; trends reshaping climate and energy transnational migration, urban social movements and the “right to the city”. 

This is a unique opportunity to obtain a joint master’s degree awarded by Ruhr- Universität Bochum (Germany), University College Cork (Ireland), Universidad de Deusto (Spain), Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Koç University (Turkey), Université de Liège (Belgium), University of Oulu (Finland), and University of Zagreb (Croatia).

The program is built around four tracks, and mandatory mobility between universities is included to ensure students experience the diversity of urban challenges across 2-3 European cities. 
Interested candidates should attend the upcoming online information session on Friday 24 March (5:00 - 6:00 pm CET) by registering here. You can also find out more about the program watching this video.

 

Looking for a new generation of urban designers, planners and managers for cities in post-industrial transitions

The urban history of post-industrial cities emanates largely from the processing and manufacturing and in some cases exploitation and exhaustion of resources of the industrial sector. This model is now comparatively less important than more dominant economic sectors (especially the service sector), while the industrial sector still accounts for 10-20% of a city’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Re-designing such cities requires an updated look at declining development paths, the set of social, economic, cultural, environmental, and political challenges post-industrial cities are facing at a turning point of their very existence, and potential escape routes from the path of decline. 

The Redesigning the Post-Industrial City (RePIC) Master program, developed within the scope of UNIC (The European University of Cities in Post-Industrial Transition), is one way to contribute to addressing these challenges. The comprehensive 2-year study program is now open for applications and will provide high-quality education and challenge-based design thinking skills for urban contexts to recent graduates to mid-career professionals in a wide range of disciplines and countries.

The program is looking to welcome future city managers, urban planners, and community designers that want to integrate different disciplinary perspectives. It is these attributes that will help cities in the long term to find new learning and action practices in reconceptualising the civic, cultural, and socio-urban fabric of the post-industrial city.

The programme adopts participatory approaches and methods - such as CityLabs, Urban Field-Classes and Engaged Research Practices - and fosters public-private-academic-societal partnerships in innovative learning activities that include structured project collaboration, social design studios, digital storytelling, and immersive design fictions.

This is a unique opportunity to obtain a joint master’s degree awarded by Ruhr- Universität Bochum (Germany), University College Cork (Ireland), Universidad de Deusto (Spain), Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Koç University (Turkey), Université de Liège (Belgium), University of Oulu (Finland), and University of Zagreb (Croatia). As universities in cities in post-industrial transition with a combined population of almost 20 million citizens, they are uniquely positioned to contribute to and share practices on some of Europe’s and more generally, industrialised nations’ central challenges for the future.

The RePIC Masters programme is a new alternative to traditional or mainstream urban studies or planning degrees as the large size of the eight Partner Universities allows for effectively bundling complementary strengths and disciplinary excellence in a unique and sophisticated curriculum. Under the umbrella of UNIC as one European University, students can choose their own fields of specialisation and mobility schemes tailored to their personal interests and individual career perspectives. Moreover, the strategic incorporation of first-hand knowledge from external scholars and associated partners fosters innovation and excellence in a living-laboratory learning experience in topics such as 
superdiversity in urban contexts; 
innovation and digitalisation of public administration; 
open space governance and management; 
resilient cities, 
healthy urban planning in cities; 
cultural economy, heritage economy and tourism; 
trends reshaping climate and energy and the European Green Deal; 
transnational migration, urban social movements and ‘the right to the city’

Interested candidates should attend the upcoming online information session on Friday 24 March (5:00 - 6:00 pm CET) by registering here. You can also find out more about the program watching this video.

 

Further information

The Redesigning the Post-Industrial City offers 120 ECTS credits and extends over 24 months. The Master’s degree is jointly awarded by eight of the UNIC partner universities. 

UNIC is an alliance of 10 universities in Europe: Ruhr- Universität Bochum (Germany), University College Cork (Ireland), Universidad de Deusto (Spain), Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Koç University (Turkey), Université de Liège (Belgium), University of Oulu (Finland), University of Zagreb (Croatia), Malmö University (Sweden) and University of Lodz (Poland)

UNIC’s strength resides in the partner universities’ locations, their urban histories and traditions, and the superdiverse nature of their cities and student bodies. The differentiated vision of UNIC is that the cities are vital partners. UNIC partner universities work hand-in-hand with city institutions to ensure that urban issues feed into teaching and research in a manner that is accessible and inclusive for all learners. UNIC is inclusive, non-traditional, urban, and unique.

You can find out more about UNIC in this video

All course information and online application details are available at: https://unic.eu/en/repic 

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