The course topics include global urbanization processes, city types, planning instruments in an international context, and aspects of international development cooperation, urban management and urban governance.
Part 1 focuses on urban and regional planning, i.e. planning systems of some countries and cultures, urban and regional practices, and visions and concepts for cities and regions, such as Helsinki, Copenhagen, Chicago, Malé, Amaravati, Masdar City, The Line or Nuuk and Eltville. Students are encouraged to bring in their own theoretical and practical knowledge. A guest lecture addresses the overall topic of sustainability as guidance notion.
While public policy provides the broad guidelines of how to address societal issues, urban and regional planning is concerned with translating these into specific measures in a distinct, spatial context. But how can this be done? In Part 2, students use the example of migration to understand how migration policies might influence planning differently in different contexts. Proposed case studies include Germany, Uganda and Bangladesh. They each face different challenges (e.g., climate change and raising sea levels; an influx of refugees from conflict areas; ageing populations; brain drain; irregular immigration; cyclical internal migration; migrant integration and social cohesion; economic emigration; asylum procedures and forced return), which result in different policy responses. In this part of the course, students analyze existing policies, how these responses are currently being addressed at the level of regional and urban planning, and make proposals for improvement.
The seminar takes place as an in-person teaching format and consists of input lectures by experts, discussions and tutorings, presentations and writing. The research, discussion and submission will be carried out in small groups.
The seminar is divided into two complementary blocks which will be taught by two lecturers. Students are welcome to work in teams of preferably two persons. Assessment will be based on presentations in class and submission of an essay.
