Why this programme

Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities

What does this study entail?

This social sciences master track is part of the Master of Science in Public Administration of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. A unique asset of this urban studies track is the collaboration between the Department of Public Administration of Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) and the Institute of Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS).

Is this the right programme for you?

Cities are complex, challenging and fast-growing. They are major economic and development drivers that generate vast amounts of wealth and are home to more than half of the world’s population (estimated to be closer to 70% by 2050). Cities are at the heart of cultural, social and political transitions and innovations towards more sustainable and inclusive societies. They are key to finding solutions for answers to social, economic and environmental issues such as sustainability, poverty, inequality, housing, migration and urban growth in a just way. Sustainable and inclusive urban governance policies are crucial to securing global resilience to these issues and to secure the well-being of people who live inside and outside of cities.

Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities - Master in Public Administration

Testimonials

Testimonial Ingmar van Meerkerk

Ingmar van Meerkerk - Programme Coordinator Master Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities

This master programme offers an opportunity to learn how to develop innovative urban policies and appropriate management strategies to deal with major societal issues of our time.
This master programme offers an opportunity to learn how to develop innovative urban policies and appropriate management strategies to deal with major societal issues of our time.

The specialisation is offered by leading academics and policy advisers. It has a coherent structure and clear focus on managing dynamic urban governance networks, going deeper into the complexity of urban issues as well as developing the skills and strategies to manage these. 

Anna Steinbrucker

Anna Steinbrucker - Student Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities

We had the opportunity to work on a real-life consultancy case for the municipality of Breda, collaborating with the urban professionals in the field.
We had the opportunity to work on a real-life consultancy case for the municipality of Breda, collaborating with the urban professionals in the field.

The Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities programme consists of a set of courses that complement each other very well. And jointly provide a well-structured and extensive insight into the complexity of urban challenges as well as potential approaches for tackling them. The courses build very well on each other in my opinion, and block for block we were able to build on and expand our theoretical knowledge as well as gain some practical experiences in the form of different (group) projects. As part of the Urban Governance Lab for instance, we had the opportunity to work on a real-life consultancy case for the municipality of Breda, collaborating with the urban professionals in the field, providing us with ample opportunities to enhance both our hard and soft skills.

Also, I consider the composition of the team of lecturers, made of scholars and professionals from Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences and the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, as a strong suit of this programme as it makes for a unique and compelling combination of theoretical insights and practical expertise.

Finally, it was intriguing to get to know people from different parts of the world. And gain an understanding of how theories of public administration and urban governance, in general, are applied and play out in varying national and local contexts. Discussing takeaways and coming up with new ideas together to combine different sources of knowledge, when approaching urban governance issues.

Clarisse de Cerjat

Clarisse de Cerjat - Alumna Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities

The courses that constitute this master build up on a critical reflection of today’s public administrations and lay down innovative ways of dealing with urban problems.
Clarisse de Cerjat - Student Urban Governance
The courses that constitute this master build up on a critical reflection of today’s public administrations and lay down innovative ways of dealing with urban problems.

I have grown a strong interest in regional and urban development throughout my previous studies of European Studies at Maastricht University. It has been interesting to see how the EU can contribute to the development of regional and urban areas. Nonetheless, I felt the need to understand the other side as cities are facing various complex issues nowadays and I believe that the EU is not the only one that can contribute to solve those wicked problems. Indeed, cities are expected to have to deal with an important amount of problems linked to the worrying increase in population density (e.g. pollution, gentrification, maintenance, data privacy, etc.). Accordingly, this programme was the perfect opportunity to gain insights from various concepts related to urban governance, urban policy, as well as urban management. Therefore, I decided to apply to the Master of Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities at Erasmus University Rotterdam.

This master combines the expertise of professionals from the Institute of Housing and Development Studies (IHS) as well as from the Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB). As a result, students gain significant knowledge from experts in the fields of public administrations and urban management. Moreover, you might want to look into this programme if you are interested in understanding how multiple actors in urban areas (i.e. governments, businesses, citizens, etc.) organize themselves around dealing with certain matters – such as climate adaption, urban renewal, smart cities. The courses that constitute this master build up on a critical reflection of today’s public administrations and lay down innovative ways of dealing with urban problems.

Moreover, this master has been taught in such a way that it stimulates your personal growth by giving you the means to work on your professional skills. Thus, I highly recommend this programme for the people that like to think out of the box or are open to being challenged. Without any doubts, each of the projects I worked on during this year have expected from us to be focused, critical, collaborative, and creative. As a result, I have gained much more confidence due to all these exercises and therefore I strongly believe that this master can make you become a great policy advisor.

On a final note, being a Swiss and French national living in Rotterdam, I believe that I have learned from the best. This programme has not only allowed me to know where I want to see myself in the near future, but also to be well-versed in the studied fields. At the beginning of the year, I was afraid that the programme would focus too much on Dutch cases. Nevertheless, the projects provided to be quite various in terms of locality (e.g. Boston, Berlin, North-Rhine Westphalia, etc.). Moreover, the fact that I was quite free to choose on the cities while writing papers and the thesis was a great exercise to apply the existing knowledge concerning urban governance coming from the Netherlands. To conclude this section, I recommend anyone that shows an interest in urban governance to apply for this master.

Clarisse de Cerjat - Student Urban Governance

Enoch Tabak

Enoch Tabak - Alumnus Urban Governance

The Master of Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities programme strikes a great balance between providing insights through latest Urban Governance theory and letting us dive into practice, for example through the Urban Governance Lab!
Enoch Barcop testimonial
The Master of Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities programme strikes a great balance between providing insights through latest Urban Governance theory and letting us dive into practice, for example through the Urban Governance Lab!

Enoch Tabak is an alumnus of the Master of Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities programme. What he liked most about the programme was: "The Master of Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities programme strikes a great balance between providing insights through the latest urban governance theory and letting us dive into practice, for example through the Urban Governance Lab!".

In addition, he mentioned why doing this programme in Rotterdam was of added value: "Embedded in the city of Rotterdam, itself a more and more vocal actor in international city networks, the programme offered me ample opportunity to make connections and tap into synergies with other projects and initiatives."

Enoch Barcop testimonial

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Learn about the programme, the lecturers, career opportunities, Rotterdam and more.

Two people sitting on a wall in Rotterdam

Cities require competent managers who are able to develop and implement inclusive and innovative policies to tackle these issues. They need experts who understand the importance of involving the community in urban governance and decision-making. Experts who are able to employ boundary spanning solutions to housing and environmental issues, who drive the sustainable economic development of cities while protecting public interest, and who oversee the development of international, public and non-profit organisations.

Within the governance of cities, governments do not act alone. They rather involve a variety of public, private and social actors with their own interests during the process of urban development. The MSc in Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities offers insight into this new way of governing and seeks to equip students with expertise in public administration, political sciences, urban economy, sociology and urban planning. In this master you will learn how to analyse urban governance issues. Furthermore, you will develop specific skills and strategies for the management and design of inclusive sustainable urban governance processes that enable stakeholders to effectively and legitimately deal with various urgent issues.

Why choose this programme?    

1. Get your MSc from a top 100 university. Benefit from the knowledge of two renowned partners; The Department of Public Administration was #4 in the 2022 Shanghai Academic Ranking of World Universities on Public Administration. IHS was honoured in 2007 with the UN-HABITAT Award for ‘leading the way as a global center of excellence and knowledge through its high-quality teaching programmes in urban management and planning’ and which has over 60 years of experience in educating and training local and national governments officials.

2. Learn from both leading scholars in the field and active urban policy advisers. 

3. Join in our interactive urban governance labs where you will be trained to use your theoretical knowledge to solve real-life examples of urban governance issues.

4. Prepare for your career and network during your project work and field visits to local stakeholders such as the Port of Rotterdam, Housing Associations or the Municipality of Rotterdam.

5. Gain knowledge on current trends, topics, innovations and tools from various disciplines in the field of urban governance (such as the circular economy, place-making, co-production and self-organisation etc.)

6. Apply and develop your knowledge globally by learning from international case studies, staff and classmates.

7. Conducting your own research (thesis) using social scientific research methods.

8. Take the unique opportunity to conduct your thesis abroad within our partner network.

9. Exchange opportunities at our partner institutions – leading universities across Europe.

Rankings

#4 worldwide for Public Administration in 2022
Shanghai rankings

#5 worldwide for Planning and Development
Center for University Ranking (CWUR)

#72 worldwide in 2022
Times Higher Education (THE)

Students collaborating with the municipality of Alkmaar 

The municipality of Alkmaar regularly collaborates with universities and colleges for knowledge exchange. The Alkmaar Canal programme has started a joint track together with students from the Urban Governance of Inclusive Sustainable Cities master programme.

Students think along for the Alkmaar Canal Programme

Alkmaar Canal Programme: Findings

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