Liveable Cities

E2023

Nordic Urban Planning Studies

Course

English

Read about the Master Programme and find the Study Regulations at ruc.dk

You register for activities through stads selvbetjening during the announced registration period, which you can see on the Study administration homepage.

When registering for courses, please be aware of the potential conflicts and overlaps between course and exam time and dates. The planning of course activities at Roskilde University is based on the recommended study programmes, which should not overlap. However, if you choose optional courses and/or study plans that goes beyond the recommended study programmes, an overlap of lectures or exam dates may occur depending on which courses you choose.

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David Pinder (dpinder@ruc.dk)
Lotte Kofod Møller (lkofodm@ruc.dk)

Lasse Martin Koefoed (lmartin@ruc.dk)

IMT Registration & Exams (imt-exams@ruc.dk)

U60323

Through a focus on current cases, this course aims to provide critical knowledge and understanding of contemporary urban planning practices in Nordic welfare states. The course is concerned specifically with agendas of ‘liveability’ that have been prominent in recent urban development in the Nordic and specifically Danish contexts, and with examining the social, political, cultural, economic and technological processes that have been shaping efforts to make more ‘liveable cities’, including new entrepreneurial forces associated with local-global interrelations.

The course introduces and critically explores different perspectives on what makes cities liveable, and for whom. Referring to cases from around the world and in particular Copenhagen, attention is given to specific sites through which ideas and practices of urban living are being explored, promoted and contested, and to the potential lessons of these for wider efforts to improve urban conditions. Through collaboration with local practitioners, site visits and conducting their own group research, students learn from multiple perspectives while gaining practical experience of planning analysis, in the process developing insights into real-life challenges experienced by various urban agents

The course introduces and critically explores different perspectives on what makes cities liveable, and for whom. Referring to cases from around the world and in particular Copenhagen, attention is given to specific sites through which ideas and practices of urban living are being explored, promoted and contested, and to the potential lessons of these for wider efforts to improve urban conditions. Through site visits, meeting local practitioners and conducting their own group research, students learn from multiple perspectives while gaining practical experience of planning analysis, in the process developing insights into real-life challenges experienced by various urban agents.

Themes to be explored in theory and practice centre on questions of the ‘liveable city’. They may include issues of housing, affordability, and models of housing provision; the public city and the planning, use and experience of public spaces; the mobile city and strategies of ‘green mobility’ in relation to cycling and walking; the ‘smart city’ and its implications for urban governance and planning; and the green city, in relation to nature-culture relations and ecological practices.

Readings for each session are provided on Moodle before the start of the course. Texts that are relevant to the course as a whole are:

Weiss, K. (ed) (2019) Critical City: The Success and Failure of the Danish Welfare City. København, Arkitektens Forlag.

Simpson, D., Gimmel, K. Lonka, A., Jay, M. and Grootens, J. (eds) (2018) Atlas of the Copenhagens. Berlin, Ruby Press.

Cave, R. and Wagner, F. (eds) (2018) Livable Cities from a Global Perspective. New York, Routledge.

Study intensity

5 ECTS = 135 hours of study. The proposed distribution of hours is approximately: 30 hours for lectures, discussions and excursions; 5 hours for conference day; 40 hours for reading and class preparation (8 hours per session); 60 hours for group pilot project and preparing conference preparation.

Teaching and learning activities

There are six full day course sessions. These combine lectures and class discussion with excursions, and they include talks and site visits with practitioners. Further details are uploaded to Moodle.

The course is taught at RUC and at varied locations and sites in Copenhagen and the surrounding area. It includes site visits, tours and some off campus teaching.

Evaluation is via an anonymous online survey distributed to all participants. The course will also be discussed with participants in the final session and reviewed at the NUPS Education Committee with input from student representatives.

Dates for the sessions, including the conference day, to be added.

On completing this course, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of contemporary agendas and practices of urban planning in the Nordic context, specifically in relation to liveability and its relations to welfare-state traditions of planning

• Understand social, political, cultural, economic and technological aspects of urban planning projects

• Show knowledge of the political economic basis of urban planning projects, including in relation to public-private partnerships, urban innovation and strategic planning

• Show knowledge of urban innovation and entrepreneurship in relation to planning

• Use interdisciplinary theories and methods to develop holistic analyses of planning projects and cases, and to evaluate their conditions and possibilities

• Understand and discuss different elements and professions involved in planning processes with respect to specific cases, and to communicate analyses of these effectively to different audiences

• Understand the positions of different and potentially conflicting urban actors, and their implications for joint action proposals and/or strategies based on a holistic understanding of planning challenges and opportunities.

The course is passed through active and satisfactory participation.

Active participation is defined as:
The student must participate in course related activities (e.g. workshops, seminars, field excursions, process study groups, working conferences, supervision groups, feedback sessions).

Satisfactory participation is defined as:
- e.g. oral presentations (individually or in a group), peer reviews, mini projects, test, planning of a course session .

Assessment: Pass/Fail.

Individual written take-home assignment

The character limit of the assignment is: 16,800-24,000 characters, including spaces.
The character limit includes the cover, table of contents, bibliography, figures and other illustrations, but exclude any appendices.

The duration of the take-home assignment is 21 days and may include weekends and public holidays.



Assessment: Pass/Fail.

The course is examined through active and satisfactory participation. This is assessed in terms of satisfactory participation in a short group project or ‘pilot project’, from group formation at the start of the course through to participating in the conference day.

Participation in the conference day involves preparing, presenting and discussing a pilot project, and also acting as discussants for other group presentations. NUPS students work together in their semester project groups. Students from other programmes should formulate their own groups of 2-6 people for this course.

Information about the pilot project and assessment criteria will be posted on Moodle by the start of the course.