Master of Urbanism
- 4 year
- English
- Master
- Part-time
Get to know Master of Urbanism
Let's get startedAbout Master Urbanism
Our society, climate, technology, and the way we humans use our cities are facing immense changes. The purpose of urbanism is to respond to these changes and create futureproof, climate resilient, and inclusive cities through our research, design, and practical processes. In this master’s programme, you’ll learn how to effectively combine design intelligence with a reflective attitude and practical skills. The competence-based curriculum is geared towards mastering seven crucial competences: design, research, collaboration, communication, entrepreneurial skills, organisation, and professional practice. You’ll gain experience and education beyond the school curriculum by combining your study with employment in a professional environment. Additionally, the Academy itself is a laboratory for spatial assignments from real stakeholders, and the studio is the perfect place to apply new skills and methods to create design proposals for complex spatial problems.
Why this study in the Netherlands?
- Our program is designed in such a way that you’ll work and study at the same time. You gain creative research and design skills at our academy, while developing practical skills at your workplace. On top of this, you have the possibility to earn a salary
- You’ll be part of Fontys School of Performance and Fine Arts, a creative learning community
- Our tutors are professionals from a variety of disciplines with a strong relation to practice
- The program has a vertical structure that synergises working and studying at the same time, encouraging you to become an independent and critical thinker in approaching real-world and future challenges
- Our international environment gives you a broad view of real-world problems and hands-on solutions to tackle these challenges
- As you’ll work in our design studio, your tutors will emphasise personal attention to guide you through the design and research process
- After graduation, you’ll be eligible to register immediately in the Dutch Architecture Register and start working as an (independent) urbanist
What will you be learning?
The programme focusses on skills, design, and theory. Due to the nature of our profession, a theoretical basis is important. Our theory classes will help you to broaden your mind and understand the underlying process of our society, so naturally, these classes include the history of urbanism. Philosophy, Economy, and Entrepreneurship are other theory classes that provide you with a different perspective to your possible role as an urbanist.
Project-based learning lies at the core of the study programme. Your assignments will tackle a particular challenge or issue that you’ll work on individually or in teams. For example, you may want to create a more inclusive city or develop a vision on the relation between the city and surrounding landscape. The studio work will be combined with various research courses to provide a strong foundation.
The philosophy of the Academy is based on study combined with working in an architect’s firm. This concurrent, practical structure offers you experience and education beyond the school curriculum, which is essential to your growth as a professional urbanist. In addition, it allows you to unleash the pioneer within by learning about the importance of design for current and upcoming issues.
- You’ll learn to take different methods to approach a challenge: sometimes, a top-down approach is the best way to work, while at other times, a bottom-up participatory design process will be more successful
- There will be emphasis on integrating different scales and developing holistic designs. Each design has an influence on multiple scales; you’ll learn how a decision at the regional scale affects the design of a public space in a neighbourhood, and vice versa
- Mastering how to position yourself is important and will be taken on too. The role of an urbanist is broad. You could be facilitator of a spatial process, an intermediary between different actors, or you may want to focus more on urban design. We’ll open you up to the possibilities and enable you to become the urbanist that you envision yourself to be
Graduate projects
Take a look at our graduates projects (download)
What does your week look like?
The course is carried out in a 40-week intensive program. You’ll work in the Design studio at Fontys in Tilburg one day per week. Alongside this, self-study comprises 10 hours and practical work 20 hours per week. You’ll follow theory classes once a week.
Career opportunities
After graduation
Graduates from this programme will be able to take an integrated, design-led approach in tackling complex issues of their environment in a national and/or international context. This gives them a variety of career prospects in urbanism and other related fields.
Title
All graduated architects and urban designers will receive the title Msc.
Admission requirements for the master’s degree program:
- Bachelor (B/ BSc) Architecture
- Bachelor (B) Art Academy (Architectural design/ Interior design)
According to the Code of Conduct regarding International Students, international students seeking admittance to an English-taught Masters programme must be able to prove that their command of the English language is at least equal to a score of 6.0 of the IELTS Test.
Applicants are required to:
Work a minimum of 20 hours a week in a relevant practice (Architect’s firm or related). The Academy offers alternative practice studio’s for students who are temporarily unable to find a regular job. In these alternative practice studio’s students will work on assignments by real stakeholders and will be supervised by practitioners. There is usually no remuneration for participating students.
Admission requirements for the master’s degree program:
- Bachelor (B/ BSc) Architecture
- Bachelor (B) Art Academy (Architectural design/ Interior design)
According to the Code of Conduct regarding International Students, international students seeking admittance to an English-taught Masters programme must be able to prove that their command of the English language is at least equal to a score of 6.0 of the IELTS Test.
Applicants are required to:
Work a minimum of 20 hours a week in a relevant practice (Architect’s firm or related). The Academy offers alternative practice studio’s for students who are temporarily unable to find a regular job. In these alternative practice studio’s students will work on assignments by real stakeholders and will be supervised by practitioners. There is usually no remuneration for participating students.
Admission requirements for the master’s degree program:
- Bachelor (B/ BSc) Architecture
- Bachelor (B) Art Academy (Architectural design/ Interior design)
According to the Code of Conduct regarding International Students, international students seeking admittance to an English-taught Masters programme must be able to prove that their command of the English language is at least equal to a score of 6.0 of the IELTS Test.
Applicants are required to:
Work a minimum of 20 hours a week in a relevant practice (Architect’s firm or related). The Academy offers alternative practice studio’s for students who are temporarily unable to find a regular job. In these alternative practice studio’s students will work on assignments by real stakeholders and will be supervised by practitioners. There is usually no remuneration for participating students.
Costs
Master Architecture and Urbanism offers 2 Holland Scholarships (HSP) to talented and motivated candidates for our MSc in Architecture and MSc in Urbanism programmes. The HSP is only available to non-EU students in the form of a €5,000 grant to be received during the second semester of the first year.
Holland Scholarship
The Holland Scholarship provides a partial scholarship for the first year of your studies within our Master of Architecture/Master of Urbanism programme. The scholarship of €5,000 is financed by Fontys University of Applied Sciences and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
General application criteria Holland Scholarship
• Non-EU/non-EEA nationality
• You’re applying for a full-time bachelor’s or master’s programme at one of the participating Dutch higher education institutions
• This is your first time studying at an educational institution in the Netherlands
• You have read the general conditions of the Holland Scholarship Programme*
• You agree that your application details may be shared with EP Nuffic and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science
Additional programme criteria of Holland Scholarship
• You’re registered for the Fontys Master of Urbanism at www.studielink.nl
• You meet the general admission requirements of the programme of your choice (to be determined by the admission office).
• Students have to hand in an essay of 750 words on the topic of “the importance of concurrent education”, using academic sources. Please send your essay to fhkmau@fontys.nl
• To be eligible for the Holland Scholarship Programme, you need to fill in the application form after 1 November and before 1 June.
Applying for the scholarship is a different procedure than the application for a study programme, which has to be processed via studielink.nl. For more information on how to apply, please select the programme of your choice.
More about Urbanism (Master)
Would you like to know more about this programme? Register for a virtual open day of this programme. During this presentation you will get to know the programme, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and you can listen in on the answers to questions asked by others. We look forward to meeting you online!
A lot of information can be provided online, but experiencing the atmosphere of the program,
strolling through our beautiful building and really meeting students and teachers, can only be done physically. We would therefore like to welcome you to this time slot of the open day.
If you have any questions beforehand, please email them to FHKmau@fontys.nl.
P.S. We ask you to be present 5 minutes before the start of the time slot.
A lot of information can be provided online, but experiencing the atmosphere of the program,
strolling through our beautiful building and really meeting students and teachers, can only be done physically. We would therefore like to welcome you to this time slot of the open day.
If you have any questions beforehand, please email them to FHKmau@fontys.nl.
P.S. We ask you to be present 5 minutes before the start of the time slot.
Do you want to experience a day as a student of the Master of Urbanism? You are welcome to register for one of the dates below*.
*If there are no dates shown, there are no events planned at the moment.
In the factsheet you will find the most important programme information at a glance.
Download the factsheet