Urban Studies, Master's Programme (Two-Year)

Planning bicycle-friendly cities

Upon graduation, Stephanie Patterson went on to work for Copenhagenize, an organisation that works to build better bicycle cultures and infrastructures.

Having worked quite closely with urban planners in a development company in Melbourne for four years, Stephanie decided she wanted to do go back to school. She chose the Urban Studies programme at Malmö University because of its social focus. 

Between two cities

“I wanted to continue my studies in Europe. I moved to Copenhagen from Australia and started the master’s programme in Urban Studies in Malmö, so I would go back and forth on the train. It was very straight forward and I really like both cities. Malmö is a bit cosier and sleepier than Copenhagen, and I feel it has more of an underground scene in terms of culture and music.”

After graduating, Stephanie landed an internship at Copenhagenize, where she helped promote bicycles as a form of everyday transport.

“Copenhagen is applied as an example for other cities, and so the company has a wide, international client base. I was doing a mixture of mapping design work and communication for their blog.”

Finding a social purpose

The Urban Studies programme is an interdisciplinary programme which gives students broad theoretical perspectives as well as the opportunity to work with practical case studies. In the third term, students can choose to study abroad or take elective courses.

“There was a good mixture of fieldwork and analysis on the programme. I also did an exchange in Paris, where I picked up some useful design skills,” says Stephanie.

She also notes that the relaxed and self-driven teaching style at Malmö University suited her well.

“There are no strict guidelines for projects which means students can really follow what they’re interested in, and bring in their own local insights.”

For instance, one of her own projects looked at community gardens and integration agendas.

“The Urban Studies programme definitely gave me a gateway to further opportunities. The studies touch on urban planning, which was linked to my work, and the sociology side of it increased my passion to be involved in urban planning for a better social purpose,” she adds.

Researching cities and cemeteries

After working as a book publisher in Moscow, Pavel Grabalov decided to follow his dream and pursue an academic career in urban studies.

Urban studies has always been a passion for Pavel. After hosting exhibits and reading books on cities and urban landscapes for many years, he finally took the plunge and applied for the Urban Studies programme at Malmö University. The programme’s focus on research was ideal for him, and he’s now pursuing his PhD in Norway.

“I’ve lived in cities for all of my life, as have my parents, so I’m part of many generations of city dwellers and was always interested in how the environment around me developed. Before starting the programme, I thought urban studies was more connected to architecture, but now I realise how broad the field actually is,” he says.

Pavel’s choice of Malmö University was largely based on how open the application process was.

“It wasn’t a requirement to have a bachelor’s degree in something specific, the most important thing was your motivation for studying. This meant that the class was really diverse in terms of professional and educational backgrounds.”

Learning from the city itself

“Malmö was a great place to study Urban Studies because the city functions so well as a case study by offering examples of challenges and solutions you can find in urban spaces. Everything you read in books you can just go outside and experience in real life,” says Pavel.

His advice to prospective students is to come prepared for a flexible, open learning environment.

“It was very different to my Russian experience. In Russia I was used to a lot of seminars and lectures, but at Malmö University it’s up to you. The fact that you get to shape and control your learning, is something I personally appreciated. You get to study the way you want and pursue your interests, but you also have to be prepared to motivate yourself.”

Graves and recreation

During his studies, Pavel became more engaged in the social sciences side of urban studies, and his PhD project explores the role of cemeteries in contemporary cities.

“In Russia it’s not normal for cemeteries to be places for recreational activities, but in Scandinavia it’s quite normal for cemeteries to be used for leisure activities, like parks.”

“If you’re interested in the academic side of things, the programme really prepares you for a career in research. The PhD I’m doing now is based on a smaller study I did during the programme, on jogging in Swedish cemeteries,” he says.