Critical Urbanisms University of Basel

Overview

In the first semester of the master's program in Critical Urbanisms at the University of Basel, students get to know methods from different disciplines of urban studies. The second semester offers you fascinating opportunities to actively deal with urban research. Fifteen students can complete the second semester at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The research here focuses primarily on cities and urbanization in the global south, as these are of central importance for research into everyday forms of agency and thus also decisive for today's global urbanization. There is no entitlement to a place at the University of Cape Town. 

A second, newly developed option is a research semester that deals with transregional urbanization processes and combines local with international field research. The central question of this research is how, from a postcolonial perspective, global systems shape divergent local conditions and urban living environments. A third option in exceptional cases is a one-year course in anthropological field research methods, which includes a research trip between the semesters.

In the third semester, the students in the Research Studio devote themselves to collaborative, interdisciplinary research practices in which methods from the humanities and social sciences are combined with visual and spatial analyzes and modes of representation. The Research Studio takes place in a specially reserved room that has the character of a workshop. Small teams of students with different disciplinary backgrounds work closely together here. Among other things, essays, graphic publications, maps, diagrams, photo projects, videos and installations are developed.

Career opportunities

Graduates of the Critical Urbanisms master’s program have relevant, practical and theoretical knowledge of the social, economic, cultural and political processes that underlie the development of cities and regions. Interdisciplinary skills paired with international experience enable them to work at institutions that play a key role in shaping cities. This includes national and international organizations - from research institutes to local, regional and national urban planning authorities to development aid organizations and NGOs. Architecture and design firms, museums, urban planning and policy offices, universities and consulting firms are also possible future employers.