Urban Design for the City in Transition

What is the objective of the course? What is it?
What does it train you for?

The three-year Bachelor’s Degree Course in Urban Design for the City in Transition (UDCT) trains experts in the analysis, research and representation of cities, territories, environments and landscapes.

The course aims to train a professional in line with current European requirements, a context in which urban regeneration plays a particularly important role.

Their professional expertise is the basis for elaborating urban, territorial, environmental and sectoral plans, projects and programmes that are drawn up by Public Administrations or by Agencies, Private Companies and the Third Sector.

The professional abilities of the UDCT graduate allow them to comprehend and interpret the processes of historical transformation of the territory and cities and to provide adequate responses to the demands of urban renewal at various scales, from the built heritage to complex systems such as landscape and environmental systems.

The competencies acquired also include the social, political and economic components

• That interact with the planning of cities and the territory- and the development of knowledge aimed at sustainability, capable of responding to some of the current issues relating to environmental pollution, land consumption, social inequalities, and the protection and preservation of historical, artistic and landscape heritage.

In 2019, the Bachelor's Degree Course received QR — Quality Recognition — Certification from AESOP.

What do you learn?

The course requires the students to carry out as many experimental experiences as possible favouring practical activities that involve a close integration with all the realities of the territory right from the training period, allowing them to learn by doing, simultaneously putting their work at the service of administrations and the community, also through Service Learning projects.

The main educational objective of the course is the acquisition of techniques and tools necessary for the development of a multidisciplinary approach capable of supporting professionals in their land management and planning choices.

The didactic activity of the course is designed to develop: the ability to read and understand the territory and all the components that characterise it; methods and techniques for the qualitative and quantitative management of data; classic and innovative approaches to territorial planning and design; techniques for the graphic and representation of the territory.

The degree is organised in the following disciplinary areas: Urbanism, Planning, Architecture and Landscape; Economics, Geography and Sociology; Ecology; Representation and History of Architecture; Basic subjects.

The course is characterised by various workshops and theoretical-practical lessons aimed both at understanding urban and territorial phenomena and facilitating the development of organisational and collaborative skills between different competencies.

What can you do with it?

Graduates in UDCT train a figure with predominantly spatial planning skills, who is responsible for understanding and managing the transformations of the built and natural environment and complex urban and territorial phenomena.

Qualification obtained with the degree in UDCT guarantees admission to the Italian State Examination for Junior Planners (section B) to be able to enrol in the respective register (Order of Architects, Planners, Landscapers and Conservators, section B, ‘Planning’ sector).

The privileged stakeholders of the Junior Planner are the subjects, both public and private, operating in the field of urban and territorial transformations, infrastructures and transport, landscape and environment, and the participatory processes linked to plans and projects, which can therefore be identified as: Public administrations for the government and management of the territory (Municipalities, Regional Councillorships, Local Authorities for cultural and environmental heritage, Park Authorities, Port Authorities, Local Development Agencies, etc.); Public or private research institutes; Professional firms, service companies, private institutions and the third sector.

It will also be possible to continue studies by enrolling in Master's Degree Courses.