During the first year of 4CITIES, all students complete a shared core curriculum.

The five courses

of the first semester, in Brussels, are divided between the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and the
Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). The second semester also consists of five courses, and is
taught at Universität Wien (UW) in Vienna.
Semester 01 / Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
 Geographies of a Globalizing Europe
 Urban Social Geography
 Urban Sociology
 Urban Economic Geography
 Urban Analysis 1 & 2
Semester 02 / Universität Wien (UW)
 Principles in Urban Planning and Urbanism
 Contemporary Challenges in Urban and Regional Development
 Urban Population Dynamics
 Geographies of Innovation and Transition
 Urban Analysis 3: Research Design and Methodology

Semester 01: Brussels

VUB and ULB / September – January / 30 ECTS

Geographies of a Globalizing Europe

VUB / 6 ECTS > Bas Van Heur, Gilles Vanhamme, Claire Colomb, Muriel Sacco
The course develops a number of theoretical and thematic perspectives on the geographies of
globalisation through a particular focus on Europe and its cities and regions. Focusing on processes
of de- and re-territorialization as intrinsic to globalization, analytical and empirical attention is paid
to the emergence of ‘Europe’ as an important scale for political, economic and social action. Within
Europe, we can observe a restructuring of national states as well as subnational regions and cities,
which has led and continues to lead to the development of various kinds of new territories, places,
scales and networks. The position of cities and regions within this setting is central to a
sophisticated understanding of the geographies of a globalizing Europe.
The course consists of a combination of two-hour lectures and seminars: the lectures (8 in total) are
focused on ex-cathedra teaching by various lecturers with each lecture unpacking a different
geography of Europe; the seminars (4 in total) are oriented towards interactive discussion. Student
evaluation will be structured around the writing of an individual paper on one European city and the
seminars will be used to support students in the writing process.
Urban Social Geography
VUB / 6 ECTS > David Bassens
The course introduces students to the key theoretical debates in urban studies, focusing in particular
on the spatial/geographical dimensions of cities and urbanization. It adopts a theoretically pluralist
approach towards urban studies. The course offers urban systems perspectives, debates political
economy perspectives such as world-city formation, discusses urban diversity and segregation,
focuses on transport and mobility issues, and explores the intersections of culture and urban
development. The course offers a mix of regular sessions, discussion seminars, guest lectures, and a
choice of topical excursions in Belgian cities. Students are evaluated on the basis of a group
presentation, a short position paper, and a written exam.

Urban Sociology
ULB / 5 ECTS > Eva Swyngedouw
The course consists in developing a sociological approach of the city in terms of interdependencies
between society (social organization) and city (spatial organization). The city is both a social
product – a physical and social space shaped by social, economic, political logics, etc. – and an
invested environment of social representations and of meanings owing to the social activities that is
itself unfolded. This environment is presented as a set of resources and constraints for the actors and
social groups.
The first part of the course is dedicated to different theoretical approaches of the city. The second
part focuses on specific case studies of cities around the world with students engaging in reading
and in class debates.

Urban Economic Geography

ULB / 5 ECTS > Mathieu Van Criekingen
The course consists of a political-economy approach to contemporary change in urban socio-spatial
configurations, in Europe and other advanced capitalist contexts. It aims at developing both a
critical and empirically-grounded approach to urban change. The course combines insights from
theories of macro-economic changes and conceptualizations of the role of actors and institutions
who actually drive urban change, in different urban contexts. Particular attention is paid i.a. to
processes of metropolitanization, dynamics of re- / dis-investment in urban neighbourhoods and the
adoption of entrepreneurial frameworks of urban policy-making and governance.
A major purpose of the course is to unpack the all-too-common representations that tend to
naturalize, idealize or de-politicize processes of urban change at times of globalization. Rather,
cities and urban change are considered here as social and political con-structs shaped by power
struggles between social forces under evolving historical circumstances.

Urban Analysis 1 & 2

VUB and ULB / 3 and 5 ECTS > Tatiana Debroux, Wojciech Keblowski, Corentin Debailleul & Mathieu Van
Criekingen
The goal of Urban Analysis I is to make the students familiar with different research methods in the
social sciences that are used to analyse the urban environment – its structures and processes. In
particular, the students will get a taste of the following methods in class: secondary statistical
analysis, urban semiotics and mental mapping, urban ethnography, and qualitative interviewing. In
addition, the students will gain some practical research skills. Working in small groups, they will
use the different methods learned in class to study a particular neighbourhood of Brussels in depth.
At the end of UA I, the students will present their preliminary research findings to their fellow
students and the 4CITIES faculty.
Urban Analysis II is designed as a follow-up of UA I, as two elements in a chain. Whereas the focus
in UA I was on inhabitants’ and users’ views, perceptions and experiences of the neighbourhood, the
focus in UA II will be on institutional actors – aka stakeholders –, their visions, projects and power.
Accordingly, planning regulations, main actors and existing projects will be added to the initial
neighbourhood analysis realised for UA1. The expected final product of UA2 is a development
proposal, a master plan based on the students’ neighbourhood diagnosis. The course is articulated
around four workshops and a final presentation which takes place at the end of January and involves
colleagues from both ULB and VUB.

Semester 02: Vienna

University of Vienna / March – June / 20 ECTS

Principles in Urban Planning and Urbanism

3 ECTS > Walter Matznetter
This lecture course will take you through the long history of urban planning in Europe, from ancient
beginnings to recent examples of urban management. Such a long view is considered helpful to
understand contemporary attempts to renovate, re-utilize and reinterpret urbanist and urban
planning solutions from the more immediate to the more distant past. A wealth of material will be
presented in the course, drawing on a great variety of sources, not only those available in English.
Supplementary readings, however, will be in the language of instruction. When available, examples
will be taken from the cities visited during the 4CITIES course, or from their neighbors.
The basic structure of the course is chronological, but with a focus on the non-synchronism of
urbanist styles and planning philosophies across Europe. Civil engineering, zoning legislation,
development planning, entrepreneurialism and project planning all arrived at different times and in
different forms in our cities. At the end of the course, all students should have acquired a solid
understanding of how urban planning developed in Europe and beyond. This knowledge will be
evaluated in a written exam, in the last week of the Vienna term.

Contemporary Challenges in Urban and Regional

Development
4 ECTS > Yvonne Franz, Axel Priebs
This course focuses on contemporary issues that are strongly connected by functional relations at
both city and regional scales. While contemporary challenges in cities also contains processes at
neighbourhood level, the regional dimension provides the opportunity to integrate debates about
cooperative planning and inter-municipal management practices. For both spatial scales, Vienna
will serve as a comparative element for theoretical debates and provide empirical examples and
applied research questions. This course includes ex-cathedra teaching with elements of blended
learning based on individual reading practices. A written exam on the knowledge gained from
lectures and readings will be held at the end of the semester.

Urban Population Dynamics

3 ECTS > Patrick Sakdapolrak
Taking as its point of departure the interplay between demography and urbanity, Urban Population
Dynamics focuses on three major themes: migration, health, and vulnerability. A translocal
perspective on migration studies is employed, emphasizing the dynamics of flows from, to, and
between specific places. Environmental, institutional, and social aspects of urban health are
explored, especially as they concern and are impacted by urban populations. Finally, the
vulnerability of urban populations to environmental threats such as earthquakes, floods, and
extreme weather, and the resulting adaptive human-environment relations are examined. The course
concludes with a consideration of the interconnectedness of all three themes and the implications
they have for urban populations.

Geographies of Innovation and Transition

4 ETCS > Michaela Trippl, Joshua Grigsby
Cities are often characterized as complex adaptive systems. Accordingly, this course applies
systems thinking to the study of cities, examining urban transitions and the innovations that enable
them through conceptual frameworks such as the Multi-level Perspective, leverage points, and
strategic transition management. A special emphasis is placed on the transitions implied by the
macro challenges of climate change and planetary boundaries, the kinds of innovation required to
enact them, and the uneven geographies of both. Moving from theory to practice, the application of
systems thinking to policy analysis and policy making is then explored.

Urban Analysis III: Research Design and Methodology

6 ECTS > Joshua Grigsby
The general aim of Urban Analysis III (UA3) is to add to the toolbox of methods developed in UA1
and UA2, and to prepare students to conduct independent research for their Master’s thesis. The
focus is on qualitative and interpretive approaches: document analysis, interviewing, and visual
analysis. Special attention is paid to the use of coding in collecting and analyzing qualitative data.
Methods are put into practice (and context) through a semester-long group project that interrogates
narratives of urban futures in strategic urban planning documents, expert discourse, and popular
cinema. The final exam consists of a group presentation and written report.

What is 4CITIES?
4CITIES is an international, interdisciplinary, immersive master programme in urban studies.
Supported by Erasmus Mundus, its perspective is European while its context is global. Students
learn to see the city, to hear it, to understand it, to engage it, and to choose their role in shaping it.
Discover what 4CITIES is all about »

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Contact
Stefan De Corte, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
WE, DGGF, 4F65, Pleinlaan 2
1050 Brussel, Belgium
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4Cities is a joint master’s degree of