The Doctoral programme in Landscape and Urban Studies at the Department of Architecture’s Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies addresses contemporary issues of urban and environmental transformation. Research spans the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, territorial planning and social sciences. Focusing on the production of landscape, territory and human settlements through a range of different scales, from the local to the global, this may include studies in landscape and designed ecologies, design strategies, energy and food production, material stocks and flows, health and socio-economic development.

The doctoral programme seeks to promote a critical discourse, qualitatively and quantitatively addressing pressing environmental and social challenges, and aspires to cultivate independent, inventive, and proactive research that engages with processes of environmental change within their broader cultural, economic, political, social, historical and theoretical context.

The programme is structured as an ongoing collective research, no two semesters are alike and it is recommended that candidates participate in at least two consecutive semesters (starting in the autumn semester, and the following spring semester). Acknowledging that landscapes are integrating socio-economic, infrastructural and ecological aspects, the autumn semester addresses an analytical perspective, which emphasizes social sciences, territorial planning, infrastructure and technology, while the spring semester introduces a design-oriented perspective, emphasizing dialogical, participatory and ecological practices.

Participating Chairs

• Chair of History and Theory of Urban Design, Prof. Dr. Tom Avermaete
• Chair of Landscape Architecture, Prof. Dr. Teresa Galí-Izard
• Chair of Landscape Architecture, Prof. Christophe Girot
• Chair of Architecture and Urban Design, Prof. Hubert Klumpner
• Chair of Architecture and Urban Transformation, Prof. Freek Persyn
• Chair of Sociology, Prof. Dr. Christian Schmid
• Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning, Prof. Milica Topalovic
• Chair of Landscape Architecture, Prof. Günther Vogt

Further information and registration