All Things Urban

The IFHP Urban Planning and Design Summer School invites students to explore different approaches to urban planning and develop future scenarios in semi-realistic urban projects. The Summer School engages participants in an international, multidisciplinary setting with a specific focus in the Nordic context of advanced sustainability agenda, interesting architectural design and current debates on urbanism in Finland and beyond. The two-week course takes place in Helsinki and two other Finnish ‘case study’ cities. It consists of high-quality lectures, a full-day excursion in the capital and intensive workshops with hands-on collaboration with diverse actors, such as professional planners, urbanists and activists. The notions of making, shaping and letting be open debates on the agency of urban planning: Are planning and design always about making new spaces? How could planners shape ethical interventions in communities and public space? When should planners ‘let it be’ and rather assist local actors in the production of space, relying on self-organizing process? The lectures, readings and workshops promote critical thinking and drive the discussions that help develop awareness for environmental, social and cultural aspects of the built environment. The first part of the course is spent in Helsinki. It consists of lectures along with an intensive workshop which, due to the multidisciplinary nature of the course, encourages diverse experiential approaches to explore, analyse and understand the city. The core of the Summer School is the active period of nine days at the two ‘case study’ cities. Working in small groups, the participants will make their own analysis and develop ideas in a semi-realistic manner, in interaction with city planners, experts of planning education and research, as well as with local actors and residents. The proposals will answer to real questions of the case cities and the final projects will be presented to decision-makers, general public and the media. Organised since 1994, the IFHP Urban Planning and Design Summer School in Finland is the oldest summer course in the field of urban planning and design, running undisrupted. The event is co-organised by Tampere University, School of Architecture, and Aalto University, Land Use Planning and Urban Studies Group, together with the International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP).

We warmly welcome applications from students at all levels of studies, especially Masters and advanced BA / BSc, as well as young professionals and PhD students from all disciplines related to spatial planning. We look forward to receiving applications from urban planners, architects, sociologists, geographers and others dealing with the built environment! The IFHP Summer School entitles participants to five study credits (ECTS).

5 ECTS

Aalto University is a community of bold thinkers where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future. Aalto University has been ranked the 7th best young university in the world (Top 50 under 50, QS 2018) and one of the world’s top technology challenger universities (THE 2017), thinking outside the box on research collaboration, funding and innovation. Aalto has six schools with nearly 11 000 students and 4000 employees of which close to 400 are professors. Our campuses are located in Espoo and Helsinki, Finland. With 37% of our academic faculty coming from outside Finland, we are a highly international community with strong academic standing.