Master in Urban Studies
Tallinn, Estonia
DURATION
2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
25 Aug 2025
TUITION FEES
EUR 2,100 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* 2100 euros per year
Introduction
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The Master of Urban Studies is a two-year, English-language program focused on rethinking contemporary urbanism. The program combines history, theory and practice, drawing on critical approaches in planning, geography and architecture. It is aimed at students who want to contribute towards a more equitable future. Key themes include infrastructure, urban nature and housing.
This transcdisciplinary program builds on insights from critical urban geography, urban planning and architectural history. Urbanism is seen through the conceptual lenses of socio-spatial dialectics and uneven urban development. Themes addressed in the program include housing and gentrification; urban nature and ecology; infrastructure and global networks. Urban Studies will introduce you to the basics of urban design and planning, as well as to a range of skills such as how to conduct a field work, write about urbanism and develop urban strategies. The art school/architectural department where you will study provide a great environment to combine critical thought and creative imagination.
Urban Studies prepares you for a career in planning, public policy and community advocacy. Our alumni work as urban designers in the private sector, as planners in public administration (municipal, regional and state-level), and as consultants in the NGO sector. They have founded advocacy organizations, and many are active as urban activists. The program provides a good basis for PhD studies.
Admissions
Curriculum
The core of the Urban Studies curriculum is our signature urban research studio, in which you will analyze and participate in actual urban situations through a combination of desk research, field work, and multi-sited interventions. It differs from an architecture/urban design studio in that we approach design as a practice that is inextricable from and determined by social, political and economic fields. The research studio allows for different outcome formats, such as essays/written reports, installations and happenings.
Additionally the curriculum consists of lecture courses, seminars, a design studio, thematic workshops and skill-based training sessions. Occassionally we organize a master class, and we do not shy from experimental teaching methods, such as reading retreats.
The curriculum combines individual and group study. You will be studying in a small group of no more than twelve students and will be supported by regular consultations with the faculty.
The program consists of 120 ECTS divided in four semesters.
Semester 1
Studio: Urbanization (8 ECTS)
Contemporary Urban and Architectural Theory (6 ECTS)
Studio: Art and The City (4 ECTS)
Urban History (2 ECTS)
Drawing (2 ECTS)
Urban Geography (1 ECTS)
Model Making (1 ECTS)
Semester 2
Studio: Urban Futures (8 ECTS)
Urban Ethnography (4 ECTS)
Urban Models (4 ECTS)
Housing: Design and Politics (3 ECTS)
Urban Tourism and Consumption (2 ECTS)
Detailed Planning (2 ECTS)
Semester 3
Urban Design Studio (9 ECTS)
Studio: Production of Urban Space (8 ECTS)
Contemporary Urban and Architecture Theory 2 (3 ECTS)
Master’s Thesis Seminar (3 ECTS)
Contesting the City (2 ECTS)
Observation Practice (1 ECTS)
Internship (1 ECTS)
Semester 4
Master’s Thesis (30 ECTS)
Additionally, you will collect 15 ECTS in general subjects.
Rankings
Estonian Academy of Arts is listed among the Top 150 Art and Design Universities in the World by QS World University Rankings (2024).