The 21st century will be an urban century. It is expected that the largest cities and metropolitan regions of Europe, North America and Japan will keep growing, even though the population of especially Europe and Japan as a whole will decline.

Contrary to the earlier ideas about the global economy becoming increasingly ‘footloose’, large cities and metropolitan areas will remain the most important economic hubs of this part of the world. In other parts of the world like China, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, cities are still growing very fast because of migration from the rural areas to the cities. Some of the largest cities of ‘the global South’ are becoming serious competitors in the global economy too. Both in the North and South, cities are becoming more international and interconnected.

Our programme combines the disciplines of urban geography, economic geography, urban and regional planning, and urban sociology, to provide a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach to urban change. An important theme throughout the programme is the international comparison of urban phenomena, as exemplified by a comparative methodology course and the requirement of an international comparison in the Master’s thesis. A unique feature of the programme, related to this focus on international comparison, is the semester abroad at one of our exchange partner institutes in Europe, North America or East Asia.

Student profile

Students should be interested in a multidisciplinary approach of ‘the urban’, which means thinking beyond their own disciplinary background. We expect students to have performed well above average in their Bachelor’s programme and to have the ambition of a research career in academia or a research-oriented position in relevant professional fields like urban and regional planning, housing, social policy or real estate.

Competencies

In the Research Master’s programme, students acquire a solid foundation in the latest developments of urban studies theory as well as a thorough training in advanced research methodology of the social sciences. In our methodology courses, combining qualitative and quantitative methods in mixed-method  approaches is specifically encouraged.

Focus on research

The programme has strong ties with the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research: the leading professors of four of AISSR's research groups are responsible for the core courses of the MSc; students will work together with these professors in a research apprenticeship and a research article; and students are invited to attend academic activities at AISSR. There is also an obvious link between this research master and the Centre for Urban Studies.