Intensive Programme General Information

Since 1990, the European Spatial Development Planning network organizes periodically an Intensive Programme (IP) on Spatial Development Planning, held at one of its partner institutions and funded by the Erasmus-Lifelong Learning Programme. The IP offers a unique opportunity to students and teachers from the partner universities to meet and study contemporary planning issues and practice in different European contexts.

The Intensive Programme (IP) is an intensive, two week-long, structured graduate course funded by the Erasmus-Lifelong Learning Programme and recognized within each ESDP partner university programme (4 to 6 ECTS). It brings together students and teachers from the planning, urban sociology, architecture, urban and regional economics, and geography programmes of the ESDP network for a period of two weeks in one of the partner university cities, with the purpose of studying the main issues, transformative dynamics and/or ongoing urban/regional project(s) and plan(s) in the chosen locality.

The IP offers a combination of lectures, site visits, project work and presentations, mixing students and teachers from different countries and with different backgrounds. Students are grouped in ‘topic teams’, made of 5-7 people, and work together to produce a report and project presentation on a specific topic related to the case study general theme. Staff members from the participating institutions, together with local staff and representatives from local authorities and other local actors, provide lecturing and tutoring. The working language is English.

The IP provides a unique opportunity to mix students from different European universities and disciplinary backgrounds to discuss contemporary planning issues within the framework of a project work. The program is intensive but rewarding in terms of both academic training and cultural exchange.

Information about Partner Universities and Contact persons can be found on Partner Universities & Contacts Page.