Master of Human Settlements (Leuven)

The structure is organized around:

• Introductory courses
• Core courses
• Design Studios
• Optional courses
• Master's thesis (research- or design-based)

Design studios form an important part of the programme, a status reflected in their credit load. They are organized as two full days of work on Mondays and Tuesdays to provide an intensive and immersive working environment, as occurs in most professional practices. They also are courses where a balance between teamwork and individual contribution is developed, since students are subdivided in small but mixed groups from inception.

Core courses are related to the studios themselves, whereas for students selecting a more research-oriented trajectory in line with the programme's profile supporting courses are organized for the elaboration of a research Master's thesis.

• The 60 credits programme in human settlements is taught by internationally respected specialists from both academic and professional spheres and targets experienced professionals and postgraduate students with an international, intercultural and interdisciplinary background. The programme aims to give students a solid scientific basis and the necessary research skills in the various disciplines within the broad field of human settlements. The programme is carried out in an intercultural and interdisciplinary environment and provides students with the capacity:
• to operate independently and critically at a high level within the field of human settlements,
• to contribute significantly to (sustainable) development by applying context-responsive approaches - including the cultural dimension of context to construction and local development challenges. These core objectives can be translated into the following learning outcomes:

1. Graduates have gained a deep understanding of the dynamic and multifunctional aspects of the built environment throughcritical analysisofscientific and design approachesto the professional field of urban design and spatial planning, complemented withapproaches in architecture and construction, thereby transcending conventional professional boundaries, and accentuating concepts ofsustainable development.
2. Graduates understand the approaches and possibilities ofrelated disciplinessuch as urban geography, social and cultural anthropology, material culture and urban sociology and can relate these disciplines to human settlements.
3. Graduates have strengthened their capacity to deal professionally with problems of human settlements, particularly as they relate tomodernization. Hence, graduates are familiar with specialized methods and skills for intervention that reflect context-responsive concepts of sustainable development and are able to deal with thedifferent levelsof the built environment (from individual buildings to entire cities) and usedesign as a medium to address the resourcefulness of space.
4. Through exposure to stimulating exchanges and feedback between academic theory and day-to-day practice, graduates will have acquired the ability to operate as a 'reflective practitioner', meaning promoting approaches that include reflection (theory, history, critique), action (in the form of designerly research and strategy development) but also self-reflection (self-criticism and reorientation, personal development through communication and co-learning).
5. Graduates will have acquired and deepened their scientific knowledge in human settlements and will have gained the experience necessary for masteringresearch methodologies and practicesin the field of human settlements. Consequently, they have learned to useliterature sourcesand approach problems in a scientific way and acknowledge the potential of design.
6. Graduates are able to apply basicup-to-date techniques(e.g. GIS, cost control at different scale levels) required for relevant professional involvement in urban development.
7. Graduates have experience in interdisciplinary research and studiowork in a teamin order to prepare them to act/work constructively in a multilevel, multi-sectoral environment.
8. Graduates are able to operate both at thelocal level and at theinternational level in the field of human settlements, providing the necessary international and intercultural background.

A graduate of the Master of Human Settlements programme will consequently be expected to have acquired the following:

Knowledge:

• A broad understanding of the relationship of complex phenomena related to the dynamics of human settlements, with a focus on its spatial materialization. This includes reflection on the following questions:

• How have human settlements emerged, grown and changed particularly related to worldwide phenomena such as globalization, climate change, urbanization, changing rural-urban relationships, formation of cities, etc.?
• How do cultural identity, the dynamics of modernity and tradition, the search for new urbanities and urban citizenship, etc. find expression in the built environment of cities, towns and villages embedded in a variety of place-space contexts, including those of the students in the program?
• How have approaches to human settlements evolved both within the professional context of the students (architects, engineers, planners) and in relation to other selected professional disciplines (sociology, economy, geography, etc.)?

• What is the relationship between the policies at various levels (worldwide, international, national, local) and the professional approaches applied in human settlements?

Skills: In the professional world, graduates:

• Are able to scientifically define a human settlement problem and subsequently to propose a method for solving this problem and implementing the solution.
• Are able to seek out, select and assess the best sources of information. This analytical capacity is complemented with an important synthetic skill to conceive, develop and express interventions on various scale levels.
• Have mastered specific insights, methods and techniques which are particular for the professional field of human settlements and belong to the following orientations: 1) architecture and urban studies, 2) rational design and construction, or 3) urbanism and strategic spatial planning.
• Are capable of communicating acquired knowledge in a well-structured and clear manner, orally, textually and graphically, to the audiences with whom they engage professionally (experts and public authorities at different levels, etc.).

Attitudes:

• Graduates will have developed a critical and open attitude, enabling them to appreciate the value and contextual relevance of information and evaluate proposals of interventions in human settlements, taking into account specific contexts and day-to-day realities of rapidly growing towns and cities in a development context.
• Graduates will have developed attitudes enabling them to learn from others and cooperate with professionals and other actors in society.