The European Urban Experience: Why Cities Matter C

Photo: Mathilde Riou

Semester & Location:	Spring 2025 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Core Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Urban Studies, Urban Design, Anthropology
Prerequisite(s):	N/A
Faculty:	Mathilde Riou (current students please reach out to faculty via Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:	Thurs 14:50-17:45 in N7-C25

Description of Course

Cities are both creative and destructive friction machines, full of contradictory tensions, goals, and visions about what constitutes the good life. This course is an introduction to the driving forces of this friction within a European context, including social, economic, environmental, technical, cultural, historical, and spatial influences.

The main goal of the course is to provide a connection between theory and practice, between thinking and making. The texts we will read provide our theoretical framework. The sites we will visit in Copenhagen, the Øresund Region and Paris, will be our case studies serving as points of departure for reflections on criteria and indicators of urban quality and what makes for cities, for better or for worse.

Learning Objectives

This course aims to offer an understanding of:

• The challenges with urbanization and the solutions that cities offer to tackle these challenges
• Historical and contemporary European urban development
• The role of culture, infrastructure, urban governance and the built environment in shaping a city and city life
• The complex relationship between the various scales of the urban experience (bottom up vs. top down)
• The relationship between theory and practice in urban development through the application of critical thinking

Faculty

Mathilde Riou
MSc (Urban Studies, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2017). MSc (Urban Planning, National Institute of Applied Sciences, Lyon, France, 2016) BSc. (Civil Engineering, National Institute of Applied Sciences, Lyon, France, 2014). Mathilde is a native French living in Copenhagen. She previously worked as a project manager and process consultant in a French firm specialized in participatory approaches and citizen engagement for urban projects (at different scales and for both public and private clients). Founder of The Urban Mycelium, focusing on visual tools and facilitation for placemaking. Active leader member of Placemaking Europe since 2017 and co-initiator of a regional network for Danish-based placemakers in 2023. 

Readings & References

There is no physical textbook for this course. Below is a list of some of the most significant readings the class will be referencing. All references can be found on Canvas. 

Key references:

• Katz, Bruce. Copenhagen Model: Regenerating Cities. Brookings Institute
• UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals
• Global Utmaning, Nordic Urban Ways: Local Leadership, Governance and Management for Sustainable Development, October 2016.
• City of Copenhagen 
  • A Metropolis for People: Visions and Goals for Urban Life in Copenhagen 2015, 2009.
  • City of Copenhagen. Copenhagen Climate Adaptation Plan: Copenhagen Carbon Neutral by 2025, Oct. 2011
  • City of Copenhagen. Copenhagen Climate Projects, Annual Report, 2015
• Atlas of the Copenhagens. Ruby Press 2018.
• Gehl, Jan & Gehl Architects www.gehlpeople.com 
• Whyte, William H., "The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces"
• Karssenberg, Hans, Laven, Jeroen, Glaser, Meredith, van 't Hoff, Mattijs, Clos, Joan, "The City at Eye Level: Lessons for Street Plinths" (2016)
• Kern, Leslie "Feminist city" (2020)
• The Guardian - Cities https://www.theguardian.com/cities 
  
  

Core Course Week and Study Tours

Core Course week and study tours are an integral part of the core course as we take the classroom on the road and see how theory presented in the classroom is translated into practice in the field. You will travel with your classmates and DIS faculty/staff on two study tours; a short study tour during Core Course Week to Malmö, Helsingborg and Helsingør, and a long study tour to Paris.  

CCW: Core Course Week

3rd - 5th Feb = Short study tour to Malmö, Helsingborg and Helsingør
6th - 7th Feb = CCW in Copenhagen

The focus of the CCW is cities as harbors and the Øresund region, visiting Copenhagen, Malmö, Helsingborg and Helsingør. 

CCW will start with a study tour to Malmö, Helsingborg, and Helsingør. These cities not only boast diverse harborscapes and unique identities, but they also provide a glimpse into the Øresund Region — a cross-border metropolitan area encompassing Sjælland and Bornholm in Denmark, along with the Swedish region Skåne. Before the Øresund Bridge was inaugurated in 2000, ferries were the main mode of transport between Denmark and Sweden, particularly the route between Helsingborg and Helsingør. Our journey, combining train and ferry rides, will allow us to experience this interconnectedness in a loop within the Øresund Region.

The second part of the week will be spent exploring Copenhagen's formation, transformation and co-creation past, present and future. 

 

LST: Long Study Tour - Paris

Sat March 1st - Thur March 6th = LST Paris

For the long study tour we will discover Paris in a way that goes beyond the typical tourist experience.
We'll explore the city's many layers, from its rich history to its vibrant cultural, architectural, and societal dimensions.

Our journey includes neighborhood tours to understand the city's planning, visits to suburbs to explore urban and social challenges and modernist architecture, and discussions about the impact of large-scale events such as the Summer 24 Olympic Games. We'll see Paris from the water with a boat tour on the Canal Saint-Martin, and visit repurposed vacant buildings and brownfields turned into dynamic third-places for creatives. With local experts, we'll explore the role of arts and culture in public spaces, the development of bicycle infrastructure and behaviour, and participatory urbanism. 

Paris, with its mix of beauty, heritage and contemporary challenges, provides a fascinating backdrop for understanding the complexities of a modern metropolis. This tour will offer a condensed yet comprehensive glimpse into the capital's many layers.

Expectations for Study Tours

• Participate in all activities
• Engage in discussions, ask questions, and contribute to achieving the learning objectives
• Respect the destination, the speakers, DIS staff, and your fellow classmates
• Represent yourself, your home university and DIS in a positive light

While on a program study tour DIS will provide hostel/hotel accommodation, transportation to/from the destination(s), approx. 2 meals per day and entrances, guides, and visits relevant to your area of study or the destination. You will receive a more detailed itinerary prior to departure.

Travel policies: You are required to travel with your group to the destination. If you have to deviate from the group travel plans, you need approval from the program director and the study tours office.   

Approach to Teaching

The class meets 9 back-to-back double sessions (= to 18 sessions) during the semester.

Lectures and assigned readings will provide a foundation for class discussions. The readings are key to understanding the case studies covered throughout the semester, and should be completed before class. Rather than just gathering information, the goal with pre-reads is to identify deeper meanings, relationships between ideas, and their relevance to the urban world. This requires analysis, creativity, and sharing your own city experiences while thinking critically.

Copenhagen will serve as a living classroom and will be discussed in juxtaposition with various European cities. Cities are a collective effort. The class will also include group work in the analysis and understanding of the European urban experience. 

Expectations of the Students

This is not a traditional lecture course. Classes will be conducted both in the classroom and out and about in the context of the city. It relies on:

• Experiencing the European city full on, together as a class, and on your own,
• Recording and reporting your urban observations and experiences
• Sharing your urban experiences and observations in class discussions, with your fellow students and via assignments and on class discussion, informed by an in-depth, critical reading of the assigned texts.

You are expected to engage and participate actively in class discussions, coming to class prepared with questions with points of departure in the readings or references.

📖 Each student is to keep a logbook - in the form of a notebook, journal, record of images and/or recordings - capturing your observations, experiences, and critical analysis of readings and references. Excerpts from your logbooks will form a basis for your assignments. 

Overall grades depend on an engaged, informed, and highly active participation in class discussion.

Evaluation

Participation 
Individual participation, preparation of questions, in-class presentations and engaged and active study tour participation.

Travel Logs: Recording European Urban Experiences (assignments 1 + 2)

Consists of recorded & written documentation of observations from the 2 study tours. Observations are to report on lessons learned, specifying urban features and urban challenges and solutions experienced in the field, referencing pertinent course readings. Documentation is to include illustrations in the form of photos, images or sketches. Readings and images should be correctly referenced.

Final assignment - Tackling Urban Challenges & Why Cities Matter 

The final assignment involves analyzing a site in your hometown or another familiar location facing urban challenges. This is where you demonstrate that you have learned to understand urban environments and critically assess urban challenges.

Your task is to assess the site and present one key challenge in-depth, supported by research, quantitative / qualitative data and course readings. You will then propose three strategies to address this challenge, inspired by best practices from cities visited and studied during the semester. Your findings will be presented in a 10-minute oral presentation accompanied with maps, charts, photos and/or sketches.

Grading

Assignment	Percent
Participation: individual engagement, attendance to all activities, preparation of questions before class, in-class presentations, discussions and other activities	20%
Travel Log 1: Recording European Urban Experiences: Comparing harbor cities - Malmö, Helsingborg and Helsingør	20%
Travel Log 2: Recording European Urban Experiences: The many layers of Paris	30%
Final Reportage: Reporting on Urban Challenges	30%

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

• Course Enrollment and Grading  
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org