European University of Post-Industrial Cities (UNIC)

Erasmus Mundus Masters in Re-designing the Post-Industrial City

Only for applications submitted before March 1st 2024, get in touch with us to learn more!

RePIC’s vision is to develop a new network of urban thinkers who can contribute to future-oriented, avant-garde thinking on the revitalisation of the post-industrial city. If you are curious about how we can revitalise post-industrial cities, this might be the programme for you.

The RePIC programme provides high-quality academic education and professional competencies for excellent students eager to specialize in subdisciplines of Urban Studies in the broader sense and who intend to build bridges into neighbouring disciplines, e.g., Law, Civil Engineering, Business, Sociology, Data Science, or Psychology.

After graduation, RePIC Graduates:

• Know urban transformations and urban design from a global perspective; can apply this knowledge in practice and across different jurisdictions,
• serve as curators of interdisciplinary transformation processes and have a broad understanding of the interdependent human and environmental urban systems,
• can critically analyse and evaluate data found in the digital space and have insights into the foundation needed to apply data analytics to real-world post-industrial urban transformation,
• have gained the ability to analyse factors influencing different spaces within urban settings critically but also an ability to compare different cities,
• have acquired a sociological and cultural approach towards urban dynamics and actors, understanding significant local and global historical developments influencing urban settings,
• understand different dynamics and processes involved in the revitalization of post-industrial cities from social science, sustainability, and circular economy perspectives,
• can communicate and translate between different professional orientations and cultures, have learned to build up empathy, work with various social groups, bring together diverse perspectives and work in transnational teams,
• can deal with modern geospatial data resources (acquisition, maintenance, analysis, and cartographic visualization of spatiotemporal transformation processes in urban areas),
• possess advanced research, professional, digital design, and spatial analysis skills, can mediate between the spheres of experts and laypersons, academia, and citizens, equipped with broad knowledge in the various sub-disciplines of the field,
• are capable of thinking beyond boundaries and exploring and generating new ideas that can be applied to current and emergent needs.

RePIC graduates can find employment in the public sector in areas such as:

• Public Urban Planning / Quarter Management;
• Community Development;
• Cities' administrations;
• Geospatial Data Analysis and Visualization;

There are also opportunities for RePIC graduates at

• Governmental organizations at local, national, European, and international levels;
• Social work organizations;
• The third sector, NGOs engaged in Neighbourhood Development;
• Foundations and organizations dealing with Urban Development and Transformation;
• Companies and organisations focused on metropolitan transitions, e.g., in sectors such as energy, data management, mobility, health, housing and education;
• Consultancies with a focus on Innovation and Change Management;
• Design agencies/businesses, development agencies, architecture/construction firms;
• Property developers, consultancies in Architecture and Urban or Regional Planning

What will I study?

The focus of the research-led RePIC 2-year (120 credit) curriculum is the contemporary challenges posed in industrial heritage settings. Viewing the city as an experimental living laboratory, RePIC understands the post-industrial city as a complex system characterised by physical, political, and historical development paths, limits, and dynamic social, economic, ecological, and cultural vectors. The program is interested in finding new learning and action practices in reconceptualising the post-industrial city's civic, cultural, and socio-urban fabric.

It will adopt participatory approaches and methods - such as CityLabs, Urban Field-Classes and Engaged Research Practices - and foster public-private-academic-societal partnerships in innovative learning activities, including structured project collaboration and social design studios, digital storytelling, and immersive design fictions.

The course is divided into four semesters, within which students are offered several mobility options. RePIC students start together in the first Semester at Ruhr University Bochum in Bochum, Germany and participate during the semester in a City Lab at University College Cork in Ireland.

In the second Semester, you will decide on one of four tracks - where two partners jointly deliver each track. Depending on the path chosen, you may move to another university.

In the third semester, you can decide between in-depth studies and practical training in a profession or research at another host university.

Considering the programme's multidisciplinary nature in the fourth and final semester, you can choose among three forms of dissertation/thesis: a traditional dissertation, a research manuscript aiming at publication, or a practical project accompanied by documentation. The dissertation will be jointly supervised by two of the Partner Universities.

Each semester and each mandatory mobility period must result in the completion of 30 ECTS credit points at one of the partner institutions. Virtual teaching activities are part of the learning experience. Still, the physical mobility of students cannot be replaced by virtual mobility unless force majeure (e.g., a pandemic) necessitates different temporary solutions.

The programme will involve several collaborations involving community groups, academia, and specialist researchers. This will apply team-based practices and co-design approaches – and align the curriculum with specific City Lab challenge areas in different European cities. Thanks to this, you can acquire critical intercultural and multilingual skills while gaining valuable experience in various European cultures during your studies.

Track Options

Students must complete an entire semester in at least two of the eight partner universities in one of the following track options:

• Urban Transformations and Resilience (University College Cork/University of Liège)
• Diversity and Social Justice (Koç University/Erasmus University Rotterdam)
• Urban Analysis: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Cities (Ruhr Universitat Bochum/University of Oulu)
• Governance of Post-Industrial Cities (University of Zagreb/University of Deusto)

Program highlights

1. Studying in Europe: Europe, where the RePIC partner universities are located, is among the most urbanized regions. Its urban system is characterized by a wide variety of small and medium-sized cities, large cities and metropolitan regions, and these urban areas are complex dynamic systems forming part of networks of cities. The eight participating universities have well-documented expertise in urban planning and are leading actors in their specific domains. They have pooled their competencies and resources to provide the best education to carefully selected high-potential students from different countries.

2. Becoming a generalist-expert: city development and urban transformation urgently need skilled graduates who are generalists and specialists in certain domains at the same time and who can explain modern concepts and complex processes understandably and convincingly to citizens and interact with other professionals, experts, and researchers they are working with. In addition to the professional knowledge imparted in RePIC, training will focus on communicative skills and the permanent practice of the acquired professional and methodological skills, starting from day 1 of the study programme.

3. Interacting with future employers: the programme’s multidisciplinary approach is premised on the understanding that real-world problems cross traditional academic boundaries. Professors from other disciplines related to Urban Studies offer their expertise to you as a student. Leading scholars and guest lecturers are invited to teach and deliver talks, lectures, and seminars and organise round table discussions. Representatives from the city administrations, their subsidiaries, companies, NGOs and regional organisations are also invited to present challenges they face and discuss options to solve them, which leads to the emergence of new projects, suggestions for your Master thesis and new topics for City Labs.

4. You will receive a joint degree from eight internationally renowned universities, which is highly acknowledged by employers worldwide. You will be the recipient of a UNIC European student card. UNIC student cards allow for easy access to seamless European mobility, both virtual and physical; you are not limited to one campus or one city – you gain easy access to eight campuses located in Europe’s up-and-coming post-industrial cities.

5. During each of the four semesters, the student service units at the partner institutions provide support concerning all social, cultural and university matters, as well as administrative and legal questions. By offering numerous events and advisory services, you will be assisted throughout your social integration into campus life and when facing academic challenges. You are also a member of a high-performance network: If you decide to pursue a career in academia after graduation, RePIC offers first-rate doctoral programmes, career support and development options for obtaining executive positions in academia and research.

With the continued growth and change of cities worldwide, it is estimated that over half the world’s population will live in cities by 2050. Post-industrial cities, in particular, face additional challenges to cope with these changes, often under difficult social and economic circumstances that represent a legacy of prior development. However, the need for transformative change is pressing in times characterized by financial crises, climate change, mass migration, and the danger of recurring pandemics.

This Master was developed with an eye towards cities' current and anticipated needs to undergo transformation to cope with future changes and challenges. With commitments to the UN New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly their urban dimensions, and in line with different EU policies and strategies on this issue, the RePIC program is designed to contribute a modest contribution to achieving these goals.

Students will undergo rigorous design thinking training and acquire the necessary theoretical knowledge and communication and visualization competencies to succeed in the current knowledge economy and diverse work environments. Students in RePIC will be trained to better understand and develop innovative responses to the complex challenges faced in post-industrial cities. By including Citylabs and practical components into the Master's program, students will have the space to test their acquired skills outside traditional learning spaces.

After completing the RePIC programme, you will be well-positioned to start or continue attractive careers in various areas of the public and private sectors as well as in university and non-university research.

Creating opportunities to meet with potential employers starts long before graduation and is strongly supported by the various options for you to interact with possible employers during each semester.

In addition to the curriculum, you will be regularly invited to research and practically oriented lectures organized at the programme universities and their partners. This establishes an early link with potential employers or placement companies. Examples in Germany are lecture series offered by the University Alliance Ruhr in the field of Metropolitan Studies, “Ruhr Lecture”, and GIS-related lectures organized by the Interdisciplinary Centre of Geo-Information (IZG) at RUB, in cooperation with the German Cartographic Society (DGfK e.V.)

You will also profit from qualified Career Guidance at each location by the RePIC partners’ career services departments. They provide information about the local and regional job market, offer career guidance and assistance in finding appropriate positions after graduation, and organize job fairs.

As a RePIC graduate, you can find employment in the public sector in areas such as:

• • Public Urban Planning / Quarter Management;
• • Community Development;
• • City administrations;
• • Geospatial Data Analysis and Visualization

There are also opportunities for you as a RePIC graduate at:

• • Governmental organizations at local, national, European, and international levels;
• • Social work organizations;
• • Third sector, NGOs engaged in Neighbourhood Development;
• • Foundations and organizations dealing with urban development and transformation;
• • Companies and organisations focused on metropolitan transitions, e.g., in sectors such as energy, data management, mobility, health, housing and education;
• • Consultancies with a focus on Innovation and Change Management;
• • Design agencies/businesses, development agencies, architecture/construction firms;
• • Property developers, consultancies in Architecture and Urban or Regional Planning