Master specialisation: Urban and Cultural Geography
You can also download a flyer on this master specialisation.
Description
Cities are the vibrant and dynamic focal points of today’s society. These diverse agglomerations of people, companies and organisations are both locations for innovation and for conflict. Cities are regarded as creative places as well as conflictual places for divergent communities. In this master specialisation you will study how different actors influence the physical form of cities but also the way in which they present and understand the character and identity of cities and how they make use of the typical urban environment in their daily activities. They create and make cities!
Career Prospects
The master specialisation Urban and Cultural Geography prepares students for a professional career in government, semi-government, and business. It also provides a stepping stone towards a research career in academia or consultancy. You will be able to apply the scientific insights and the practical skills you have acquired to topics including the development and marketing of cities, multi-culturality and integration, innovative and creative urban milieus, urban identities, cultural industries.
This would qualify you for a whole range of different jobs. Some of you might find a job in a government agency, e.g. as city-manager, city marketeer, city planner, integration agent, city-network manager, PR- manager, etc. Others will end up in semi-government agencies such as development agencies, cultural planning agencies, but also research institutes, etc. Finally also private industry offers a number of opportunities for urban and cultural specialists. One might think of jobs such as event manager, museum director, city marketeer, consultant, journalist, innovation consultant, communication manager, media specialist, etc.
Programme
Semester 4.1 |
Semester 4.2 |
||
Period 1 |
Period 2 |
Period 3 |
Period 4 |
|
Our Common Ground: Human geographic research colloquium (6 EC) |
|||
| Urban and Cultural Geography (6 EC) | Economy, Space and Culture in Nijmegen (6 EC) | ||
|
2 Elective Courses (6 EC each) |
|||
| Preparing the Master Thesis (6 EC) | Master Thesis (24 EC) | ||
Course descriptions
Our Common Ground: Human geographic research colloquium
This course is a commons course for all Human Geography master students. This course has the form of a seminar or colloquium, in which students can partly co-determine the research issues it will deal with. This course focuses current debates in our discipline and how they are related to our own research. It also provides the opportunity to inform fellow students about the progress in your research and ask them advise. A mix of different activities will be employed in this course, such as jointly discussing selected articles from the latest issues of the 'top'-jounals in our field, present and discuss research proposals and the intermediary results of our research, invite professional experts who are relevant for our research for contributing to the colloquium. As far as feasible also the activities developed in the framework of the renomated Alexander von Humboldt Lecture series in Human Geography will be part of this course. Students will report on the different activities in this course, from the perspective of their own research.. In this way students will be actively involved in the real research. Students will learn to independently critically reflect on and relate to the developments in the scientific community of our discipline and will gather highly topical knowledge about latest developments in our field.
Urban and Cultural Geography
Cities are the vibrant and dynamic focal points of our society. These diverse agglomerations of people, companies and organisations are both locations for innovation and for conflict. Cities are regarded as creative places for creative people as well as conflictual places for divergent communities. Following the recent cultural turn in urban studies, which focuses on meaning, identity and the politics of difference, this course tries to provide you with a basis for understanding some main contemporary urban issues by looking at diversity in the city. Moreover, to analyse and critically evaluate the development of these aspects of urban life. This course will discuss various ways of conceptualising the city. By looking at classic and contemporary texts on the city and urban life you will gain an overview of key developments in urban theory. Through engagement with original works of, among others, Simmel, Jacobs, Wirth, Sennett, Benjamin, and Davis, the course aims to explore the variety of ways in which different theorists have attempted to interpret the nature of the contemporary city. From these theoretical perspectives we will also critically reflect on urban policies in the Netherlands and elsewhere.
Objectives The primary aim of this course is to develop students' critical understanding of the complex processes of urbanisation. This involves analysing cultural, economic, political and social change in cities. This aim is achieved through theoretical investigation and critique of these processes of urban change. The acquired insights in the complex processes of urbanisation will also provide the students with the required understanding of urban development and intervention.
Economy, Space and Culture in Nijmegen
A course devoted to exploring the state-of-the-art in the 'cultural turn' in economic geography, drawing on some of the most exciting work in Anglo-Saxon and Dutch cultural geography today (Jackson, Gregson, Crang, Thrift, Barnes et al). Origins of 'cultural turn' in economic geography will be situated within the broader context of cultural studies in the academy, debates on post-Fordism and postmodern consumer culture. Active student participation will be sought in the examination of real-life case studies drawn from everyday life in and around Nijmegen.
This is an exciting practical module, in which students will elaborate on a selected topic and undertake some empirical work in the Nijmegen area. Students will go through the entire research cycle, and report their findings in the form of a joint professional article. The reports will be bundled and published as a Report. Each step will be prepared, discussed and monitored through a series of tutorials supported by group supervision. On the basis of thematic preferences, dedicated sets of readings will be composed, which will, as far as possible, build on the work done in the foundational theoretical course. A key aim of the module is to encourage students to liaise with economic agents and the region, which may be the basis for guest lectures, workshops, and the design of web pages. Grading will be individual, on the basis of an indication of the division of labour within the project and a final oral exam (on the project and readings).
Preparing the Master Thesis
This course is aims to teach you how to structurally develop and reflect upon your research design and the methods used for data collection and analysis. After completing this course, you will have completed your research proposal for the master thesis, including a detailed project planning. By doing this you will be able to make a 'flying start' with your actual master thesis project. In this course you will further develop your skills in preparing and elaborating a research proposal. The final goal is to prepare a concrete written research proposal in the format of a research proposal for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). This will be evaluated by the thesis supervisor and if possible also by an (external) 'expert'. You will be assigned a thesis supervisor as soon as possible to provide feedback on drafts versions of the proposal and related exercises building up to the proposal. Furthermore you will be expected to also use the expertise gathered during your study to discuss, evaluate and criticise methodological aspects of the proposals of your fellow students. To stimulate this process we will deal explicitly with ways to set up a bibliography, an expert network (consisting of scholars but also practitioners and policymakers concerned with themes of relevance to the topic of the master thesis. Before starting the actual research for your master thesis the proposal has to be graded by your supervisor as sufficient. An important focus therein will be on the degree to which translation of research questions into a concrete research design and empirical methods has been achieved.
Master Thesis (including Research Apprenticeship)
Objectives
After completing your master thesis you:
- will have proven to be able to independently set up and conduct a scientific research project in the field of socio-spatial research;
- will have explored the professional practice of socio-spatial research and will have shown to be able to position yourself in the professional world. This implies that you:
- have gathered insights in the organisation and management of the apprenticeship organisation;
- can formulate the research problem in such a way that it is highly relevant for professional field;
- applied your academic geographical knowledge to a concrete working situation;
- will have learned how to translate a practical problem into a feasible theory led empirical research project;
- will be able to present the results of scientific research in a praxis relevant way.
Description
On the basis of your approved research proposal you start your master thesis research at the organisation of your choice where you do your research apprenticeship. You will be supervised by both a supervisor in the apprenticeship organisation and by your master thesis supervisor at the university. Since this is the 'proof of the pudding' you will be expected to conduct your research independently. Your supervisors will of course provide the necessary support you as advisors and coaches, but you will have to direct your research work yourself, and take the first initiative. You are also responsible for the time management of the research and of your research apprenticeship. Our experience shows that such a master thesis research project will take at least six months, although not always full time. Your master thesis research should be a scientific theory led empirical research project taking a practical socio-spatial problem as the starting point. Ultimately your research efforts should result in a complete and innovative academic report: the master thesis.
Examples of elective courses
- Multi-Cultural Society (Geography, RU)
- Globalising Cities and Hinterlands (specialisation: Globalisation, Migration and Development, RU)
- Space, Place and Society (Wageningen)
- Metropolitan governance and spatial planning (UvA)
- Social challenges for the city in a globalizing world (UvA)
- Culturele diversiteit (Utrecht)
- Social challenges for the city in a globalizing world (UvA)
- Leisure and Space in the Information Society (Tilburg)
- Thema: Cultuur, maatschappij en geschiedenis (Tilburg)
- Cities and neighbourhoods (Utrecht)
- Representeren van plaatsen; beelden en teksten (RUG)
- Making Places (RUG)
- Culture, Conflict and the City (Manchester)
- Popular Urban Cultures (Manchester)
- Urban Interventions (Helsinki)
- Urban Social Geography (Brussels)
- …
Contact
For more information please contact the study advisor: MSc. Jackie van de Walle (j.vandewalle@fm.ru.nl), Room TvA 3.1_38, telephone: +31-(0)24 - 361 60 49.
You can also download a flyer on this master specialisation.