Academically oriented

Full-time study

2 years

M.Sc. Monika Konrad

Chairman :
M.Sc. Monika Konrad
Councillor internal :
Dr. Aliaksei Lastouski
Assoc. Prof. Siarhei Liubimau, Dr.
dr. hab. Mateusz Blaszczyk
Ing. arch. Jan Foretník, Ph.D.
Dr. Dawid Krysiński
Councillor external :
Dipl.-Ing. Miodrag Kuč, MSc (ZK/U Berlin)

The Integrative Urban Studies Joint Master Degree (INUS) is an interdisciplinary program designed to address the complexities of modern urban development through a holistic Space – Actors – Policy framework. By integrating spatial analysis, stakeholder engagement, and policy innovation, the program equips future urban professionals with the skills necessary to create sustainable, inclusive, and resilient cities.
As urbanization accelerates, challenges such as social inequalities and climate change place increasing pressure on cities worldwide. The UN-Habitat World Cities Report 2024 highlights the urgency of adopting integrated, evidence-based urban strategies, particularly as projections indicate that over 68% of the global population will live in urban areas by 2050. INUS aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) – Sustainable Cities and Communities, preparing students to confront these issues through a research-driven and practice-oriented curriculum.
The program’s Space – Actors – Policy approach ensures a comprehensive understanding of urban environments. The Space component focuses on the physical and environmental aspects of cities, integrating smart urban planning, mobility solutions, and green infrastructure. The Actors component emphasizes engagement with diverse stakeholders, from policymakers to grassroots communities, promoting participatory governance and social innovation. Finally, the Policy component links research with real-world decision-making, equipping students with the tools to shape resilient, adaptive, and inclusive urban policies.
Through a combination of multidisciplinary coursework, hands-on fieldwork, and international mobility across leading European universities, INUS graduates emerge as highly skilled urban leaders capable of bridging the gap between research, policy, and urban practice.

By studying at all three participating universities, graduates of the joint-degree programme Integrative Urban Studies will acquire a Master's degree (Mgr.). At BUT they will be educated in the field of urban planning and spatial planning, at European Humanities University Vilnius they will be educated in the field of urbanism with emphasis on urban geography and urban anthropology, and the University of Wroclaw will provide studies in the field of traditional sociology, economics and politics.

Expert knowledge:
In order to solve current urban challenges, it is necessary to give the graduates relevant skills, such as comprehensive problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity, coordination with other disciplines, decision-making ability, emotional intelligence, ability to negotiate, etc. The graduate must be able to respond to constantly changing, unstable requirements and come up with new, non-traditional solutions to current problems. They must be able to critically review what we do (and how), and create innovative solutions applicable to everyday life. The student is led from the beginning to think independently and to develop the ability to come up with their own visions and ideas and develop them into coherent projects. This is an important aspect to successful employment of graduates in the labour market. In order to improve the practical skills of graduates, studies contain compulsory traineeship.

After graduation, graduates will have the ability to:

• carry out planning activities in connection with the provision of professional services
• participate in the preparation of master plans, including master planning documents
• conduct urban surveys
• issue expert opinions
• issue opinions for partial environmental impact assessment of buildings, including assessments for the purposes of proceedings before state authorities
• acquire and evaluate empirical data
• analyse specific social or cultural problems and phenomena, taking into account their history and research ethics
• present practical proposals and recommendations to address social or cultural problems
• select and apply a suitable theory for problem analysis.

Graduates will be prepared to work as

• experts in the state and local administrations, in non-governmental organizations and private sector companies offering them transferable skills in the areas of urban management, planification, monitoring and evaluation;
  
• managers and researchers in international organizations’ programs on urban development;
  
• employees of municipal departments of international cooperation/best practices;
  
• initiators and managers of urban policy transfer projects such as informal educational programs, hallmark events on urban development, etc.;
  
• specialists and project managers of GIS projects dealing with digital data and its use in urban planning and city analysis;
  
• academic employees and researchers at universities;
  
• independent scientists and activists.

The state final examination consists of two parts, the first part includes the defence of the thesis and the second is an oral examination. The oral examination consists of three thematic areas:

• "Spatial Planning"
  
• "Actors of Urban Development"
  
• "Policy and Management of Urban Development"

• Urbanism and Territorial Planning
  
• Landscape Architecture
  
• Theory and History of Architecture and Art
  
• Monument Care and Environmental Protection
  
• Infrastructure of Settlements, Landscape Planning

The scope of the study program is 120 ECTS credits, evenly distributed among three campuses.
The I semester (30 ECTS), Space (at Brno University of Technology), places the emphasis on understanding the relationships between the physical substance of cities on one hand, and the politics, economy, society, technology, and culture on the other hand. Future graduates are taught to understand space, by relying on the knowledge of different conceptual policy approaches and political ideologies in urban planning, on the acquaintance with market valuation of real estate, on the acquaintance with legal regulation of city planning, and on the basic software skills needed by urban planners. Compulsory courses in this semester consist of 28 ECTS, of which 12 ECTS are for the Studio on Urban Environment and Strategies. At least two credits must be obtained for elective courses, either from the study program offer (it will be updated every academic year) or from the university course offer (e.g. other faculties courses, sports or languages).
The goal of II semester (30 ECTS), Actors (European Humanities University in Vilnius), is to teach future graduates to analyze the city as both process and result of socio-political differentiation. Courses of this semester present different theoretical, methodological and applied perspectives on the actors of spatial development and planning – conceptualized and operationalized in political and social studies by the notions of institutions, interest groups, classes, communities, stakeholders, users, sides in a conflict, identities and lifestyles. Compulsory courses in this semester consist of 24 ECTS, 12 ECTS of which are for the Research Project: Policy of Integrative Urbanism. The student must supplement them with two selective courses for 6 ECTS (there are three on offer in total).
The idea of the III semester (30 ECTS), Policy (University of Wroclaw), is to present to the future graduates the main governance challenges and opportunities for the Central and Eastern Europe cities in the early 21st century. It takes a city council perspective on urban development and planning issues. Its major theoretical and empirical focus is urban political economy in the broader context of global and regional transformations. Compulsory courses in this semester consist of 11 ECTS. The student must supplement them with three selective courses for 15 ECTS (there are four on offer in total) and Foreign/Polish Language (4/5 ECTS) according to campus rules.
In the IV semester (30 ECTS), Thesis (any campus), students will be given the opportunity to cooperate with non-governmental organizations, local municipalities or/and other local institutions (to be chosen from the list) when writing their theses. The main goal is to involve students in activities taken by the institutional body responsible for addressing particular urban problems (spatial, social, economic etc.). As a result, students will be able to synchronize their competences and knowledge of conceptual and methodological background with real-world problems. Brno University of Technology is administratively responsible for this semester, but students will be supervised by the faculty members from all three campuses - Brno University of Technology, European Humanities University, and University of Wroclaw.

Any bachelor study program linked to any of the fields of study in the study program.