Seeking to address the knowledge vacuum generated by the multitude of environmental, economic and social crises manifesting in cities in the Global South due to rapid urbanisation, the African Centre for Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town has launched a new master’s degree in southern urbanism.
The development of the course, supported by a grant from the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, has been underway since 2015 and will have its first in-take in 2018. Renowned urban scholar Professor Edgar Pieterse, along with Professor Sophie Oldfield (University of Cape Town and University of Basel professor of urban studies) and course convenor Dr António Tomás designed the two-year degree curriculum.
In year one, students complete the master’s coursework, which includes a compulsory ‘city research studio’, a choice of two of three interdisciplinary urban modules, and an urban-focused elective. In year two, students research and write individual minor dissertations based on their own fieldwork.
Core modules – Urban Theory, Urban Everyday and Arts of Space – engage and ground students in a mix of exciting theoretical debates central to contemporary southern cities. A selection of electives gives students an opportunity to engage with cities through particular disciplines and thematics in, for instance, geography, sociology, anthropology, architecture and planning.
At the heart of the master’s programme is the city research studio, a laboratory space where the students and faculty will learn to walk, see, smell, touch, embrace, explore and reimagine the city through intimate engagements mediated by diverse research techniques.
The master’s degree is open to students who have completed four-year bachelor degrees, as well as students with an existing master’s degree, in specific disciplines. The programme has been designed to provide a rigorous theoretical as well as methodological foundation in interdisciplinary urban studies. It is intended as a bridgehead into PhD-level research, producing skilled researchers able to conduct compelling doctoral research.
Applications for 2018 are now open.
For more information or to apply click here.
