Course Syllabus

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The European Urban Experience:

Why Cities Matter A

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URB books.JPG

Photo: R.M.Hess

Semester & Location:

Spring 2026 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:

Core Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:

Urban Studies, Urban Design, Urban Policy
Prerequisite(s):

Most classes will be out and about on site visits - walking, bicycling and by mass transit - so confidence in cycling is good to have.
Faculty:

Regitze Marianne Hess (current students please reach out to faculty via Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:

Thur 14:50-17:45 in F24-503

SUBJECT to CHANGES in sequencing of talks'n'walks

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, Gothenburg and Hamburg, 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 fields and paradigms of European urban configuration, design and planning
  • Main drivers of historical and contemporary European urban development
  • The role of culture, infrastructure, urban governance and the built environment in shaping a city
  • The complex relationship between the various scales of the urban experience
  • The relationship between theory and practice in urban development through the application of critical thinking

Faculty

Regitze Marianne Hess

Architect MAA, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen (1993). B.Eng. – Civil, McGill University, Montreal (1985). A career of working with and advocating for better cities and built environments through the world of philanthropy, non-profits, academia & private practice; as curator; publisher, editor & writer; teacher and critic. Currently engaged in International Federation for Housing and Planning [IFHP], B Architectural Books. Positions of trust include: DIS Faculty Chair & DIS Board member. Affiliated with DIS since 2002.

Readings & References

There is no physical textbook to be picked up during arrival workshop.

References are by and large on-line, either via Canvas or links.

Key sources include:

Other sources:

  • 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
  • Hess, Regitze Marianne. #1 City to Live In Copenhagen, Metropolis Magazine, Sept. 2016.
  • Exploring Copenhagen. Scale Denmark, 2018. 
  • Gehl, Jan & Gehl Architects www.gehlpeople.com 
  • LSE, Shaping Cities in an Urban Age 2018.
  • The Guardian - Cities https://www.theguardian.com/cities 

Field Studies and Study Tours

Field studies and study tours, together with walks on par with talks, form an integral part of the course to support our understanding of the qualities of cities and how they have come about, how they can be improved and how they can be sustained. 

Field Studies

For core courses there is the option of a half-day field studies - whether or not we carry it out to be confirmed - tentative date:

  • Wednesday afternoon, 11th March 2026 (13:00 - 17:00)

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 Gothenburg, Sweden and a long study tour to Hamburg, Germany.

CCW: Core Course Week

The focus of the CCW is cities as harbours and havens, touring Copenhagen and Aalborg. 

  • 2nd & 3rd Feb. 2026 = Copenhagen & Malmö
  • 5th - 7th Feb. 2026 = SST Gothenburg

CCW will commence with explorations of the cities of Copenhagen and Malmö in relation to each other and their respective formations, transformations in particular of their harborscapes. 

The latter part of CCW is the SST: Short Study Tour to Gothenburg.

The short study tour to Gothenburg offers a glimpse of Sweden's second biggest city, historically a stronghold, laid out with military rational, shaped by trade and industry, and now undergoing a tremendous transformation from a working harbourscape to postindustrial waterfront redevelopment.

Highlights include: Gothenburg Cathedral, Röhsska Design Museum, Feskekôrka or Fish Church, the quaint Haga neighborhood, contemporary Älvstaden harbor redevelopment of Lindholm Harbor. 

LST: Long Study Tour - Hamburg, Germany

  • 18th - 23rd April 2026 = LST Hamburg

The long study tour is to Hamburg, Germany, offers an experience of one Europe’s most important urban centers and ports. Hamburg has a long history as a ‘free city-state’ and leading member of the Hanseatic League, serving as Denmark’s gateway to the Continent, and Germany’s gateway to the world. It is a city shaped by shrewd traders and salty seafarers, which can be traced in today’s corporate culture and edgy counter-culture. Through tours, and site visits experience urban contexts of Hamburg and the forces shaping the city, with parallels being made to Copenhagen’s own urban culture and urban development. 

Highlights include traditional "kontor" houses aka trading houses or the very first office buildings, contemporary harbor development HafenCity, cultural highlights Elbphilharmonie, vibrant neighborhoods St. Pauli & Sternschanze, Wilhelmsburg (no not Brooklyn, NY),  exclusive Aaltona. 

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.

Talks, walks, site visits, sounds & visions, readings and other references, travel logs and dialogues form the basis of an investigation of European urban experiences. References support the understanding of urban observations and experiences, and are worthy of review in stride with class sessions. Students are encouraged to draw on and share own experiences of cities. 

Copenhagen will serve as a living classroom and will be traversed and discussed in juxtaposition with various European cities. Cities are a collective effort. This course will involve collaborative group work and analysis and understanding features of European cities and urban criteria which indicate and account for urban quality.

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 
  • Critical reading and analysis
  • In-class discussions - sharing your urban experiences and observations 
  • Reflections and recommendations 

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. Excerps of 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 

Consists of recorded & written documentation of observations from the field, on site visits, field studies and/or study tours, in the the form or notebook excerpts, either submitted at direct notebook scanning and/or as one pagers, registering learning points from the site visits, field studies and study tours, specifying urban features and urban challenges and solutions experienced in the field, referencing pertinent course readings. Documentation may include illustrations in the form of photos, images or sketches.

Final - Reporting on Urban European Experiences: Why Cities Matter 

The final is a reportage, a form of reflection back of wanderings and wonderings harvested from you travels and urban experiences, where you are to make a case for cities and sites seen and observed, why they are worth worth visiting, why they matter, what kind of lessons can be learned. 

The reportage can take the form of an article, essay, personal journal, photo essay, audio or video recording, documenting your urban experience via specific sites you find worth visiting, including details location, address and access; recommendation of when to go and who to share the experience with. To be accompanied with illustrations: maps, charts, photos and/or sketches.

Grading

Assignment

Percent
Participation: individual engagement & attendance,  including preparation & participation in group discussions and activities

20%

Travel Log 1: Recording European Urban Experiences: Comparing cities - Gothenburg & Copenhagen

20%

Travel Log 2: Recording European Urban Experiences: Comparing cities - Hamburg

30%

Final Reportage: Reporting on European Urban Experiences - Wanderings & Wonderings

30%

Academic Regulations  

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

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

Course Summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due