Curriculum design

The core of the first year of the master’s programme consists of the three multidisciplinary CityLabs, with each partner university coordinating one CityLab.

Each CityLab (CL) deals with a specific urban challenge: the impact of an urban environment on water, atmosphere, soil and urban green (CL 1: The Urban Ecosystem, 15 ECTS, coordinated by University of Antwerp), the optimisation of resource consumption in cities, with a particular focus on materials, water, energy and food (CL2: Urban Resources, 15 ECTS, coordinated by Ghent University), and the impact of an urban environment on human health and the liveability of a city (CL 3: Human Health & Urban Liveability, 15 ECTS, coordinated by KU Leuven).

Each CityLab consists of two components: a conceptual framework (9 ECTS) and an integrated practical case (6 ECTS). A CityLab has a strong problem-based character. In collaboration with the actors involved (city services, industry, organisations, citizens), concrete and authentic issues are defined that form the subject of a CityLab. Theoretical frameworks are offered alternately on campus and online, but you will also head into cities to gain a better understanding of the challenges and actively look for solutions. Although each urban challenge is primarily approached as a bioscience engineering problem, other relevant disciplines are also involved in order to provide an answer to the complex urban challenges.  In this way, each CityLab is supervised by a multidisciplinary team of lecturers.