Master in Urban Planning and Development
About
Our master’s program in urban planning and development is based on complementary and cross-disciplinary approaches, combined with training in both the skills and knowledge required today in the professional fields of urban planning, urban development and the management of territorial dynamics, as well as for research in these areas.
This highly interdisciplinary master’s program is accessible to students from a wide range of academic backgrounds (anthropology, architecture, economics, engineering sciences, geography, history, law, political science, public administration, sociology, urban development, etc.). It offers a variety of teaching and learning methods (lectures, workshops, dissertations, internships, fieldwork, individual and group work, etc.) and demands a high level of commitment from students to their education and training, with the aim of fostering a professional commitment to and involvement in the field of urban planning.
This curriculum gives students — whether they are new to urban planning or continuing previous studies — the means to respond in relevant and innovative ways of changing urban issues, today and in the future.
Professional Applications and Opportunities
The EUP trains students in the various professions associated with the planning, management and implementation of urban and territorial projects undertaken by local authorities and their public and private partners. The training we provide gives access to four broad categories of professional opportunities.
▪ Urban Studies:
These professions involve assisting and facilitating decision-making in both the public and private sectors. Urban planners trained in this particular field generally work either in private or association-based structures (e.g. engineering and design offices; urban planning agencies; chambers of commerce and industry; economic development agencies), or in public or quasi-public structures (e.g. local authorities; government services and departments, in particular those responsible for territorial development; environment and energy agencies; national housing bodies; other public bodies).
▪ Urban Planning:
These professions help plan and develop urban policies and their implementation over time. The skills required for this focus on the ability to act as an effective interface between political decision-makers (elected officials, government representatives, etc.) on the one hand, and project-management teams (planning, coordination, implementation) on the other.
▪ Urban Design:
Ces professions passent par la maîtrise des différentes étapes de définition et de mise en œuvre des projets urbains. Les compétences visées dans ce champ sont liées à la capacité d'élaborer et de faire émerger un projet urbain, de définir ses grands objectifs (programmation), de concevoir son organisation spatiale (composition urbaine) et sociale (prise en compte des usages) à partir de démarches concertées.
▪ Urban Management:
These professions are based on the various activities associated with managing and organizing the city and its different components (housing, and social housing in particular; networks, especially transport; public space; environment; landscapes). Local authorities, intermunicipal authorities, public bodies, social-housing organizations, and public-transport authorities and operators are the main sources of jobs of this kind, with professionals in these domains typically working in the technical, urban-planning, land-management, housing, and central-services departments (among others) of local authorities.
These broad categories of skills and knowledge cannot be reduced to specific fields of action (public spaces, housing, transport, environment, etc.), even if such fields form distinct domains from an academic perspective. Indeed, just as urban planners are frequently required to make connections between these fields, which public action often tends to compartmentalize, they will also be required, at various times in their careers, to call upon and combine the different types of activities and methodologies presented above.