Urban Life and Placemaking
Specialisation of the Leisure & Events Management programme
Why this specialisation?
What does the professional bachelor’s specialisation of Urban Life and Placemaking entail, and why should you choose it? We will tell you more about it.
Come and meet us
Walking around on campus is the best way to truly experience BUas. Sign up for one of the upcoming events or activities.
Study overview of the specialisation
- You will learn how cities develop, what role leisure and events play, but also what role you can play.
- For the community design course, you will build your own network with classmates, lecturers and organisations from the professional field.
- You will go on a field trip with Urban Scope to ten different cities in the Netherlands and Flanders, each focusing on a different theme.
- You will learn about themes such as creatieve cities, inclusive cities, sustainable cities, safe cities, festival cities, and future-oriented cities.
- For Projects for the City, you will carry out a number of projects for real clients. You can also propose your own projects, if you wish.
- For concepting, you will develop a concept for a client, with the winning group having the opportunity to actually carry out the project.
- You will have the opportunity to take part in Placemaking Week Europe
- You will have your own Urban Life & Placemaking classroom, together with your fellow-students.
- For Living in the City, you will spend half a year in a European city together with classmates to work on local projects while continuing to take online classes at BUas.
- You will explore the theme of Playful City, put Tactical Urbanism into practice, and organise your own conference.
- For Event Design, you will work for a client to carry out an event from A to Z.
- For Urban Futures, you will develop a theme of your choice through research and involve all kinds of stakeholders.
In the final part of the programme, you will take a minor and further develop your strategies in your graduation project. You have the following options for minors:
- Co-Creating Events & Designing Experiences
- Inclusive Placemaking
- International Urban Redevelopment
- Storytelling in Experience Design
During your graduation project, you will work on a research project for an organisation.
Tess Kuijsten: I worked on a project for Green Business Club Eindhoven. I conducted research into the possibilities of realising a sustainable nature playground somewhere in the city centre of Eindhoven.
Hannah Rippen: I had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with Plot Twist Placemaking for my graduation assignment about the added value of mixed-use spaces within office environments.
You will complete your graduation with a final exam, in which you will demonstrate that you are ready to work as a manager in the field of Urban Life & Placemaking.
Frequently asked questions
- Why a specialisation in Urban Life & Placemaking?
As more and more people live in cities, cities are becoming places where leisure and events play a major role, but also places where major issues (congestion, lack of space, lack of nature, nuisance, etc.) play a role. Leisure and events can play a role in making cities attractive (loveable cities), but they can also play a role in ensuring that cities remain liveable (liveable cities).
- What will I learn in this specialisation?
You will learn how cities work and what role leisure and events play and can play. You will learn to look at a city differently, as a professional rather than a visitor or resident, using a variety of perspectives such as eventfulness, playfulness, sustainability, inclusivity, safety and storytelling. You will learn about the diversity of parties and individuals involved in everything that happens in a city in relation to Urban Life & Placemaking.
- What kind of companies and organisations does the specialisation work with?
With many different types of companies and organisations. Think of city festivals such as Glow, Gentse Feesten, and Popmonument, city marketing organisations from Breda, Eindhoven and Tilburg, creative clusters such as Spoorzone Tilburg, NYMA, or Strijp-S, cultural organisations such as Markiezenhof, Permeke, Lochal, and MAS, urban culture organisations such as Pier15 and Hall of Fame, and street art initiative Blind Walls Gallery.
- When am I eligible for this specialisation?
To be admitted, you need to have completed the first year (propaedeutic phase) of one of the Leisure & Events Management programmes. You choose your specialisation during your first year of study. You can also start this specialisation directly if you have a VWO diploma, associate degree, or a comparable qualification.
- Will I also carry out projects?
Yes, in every year of the programme, you can work on real-life projects for clients. There is even a course (Projects for the City) where you can bring in your own assignments and clients and work on themes that you find interesting.
- Will I also go abroad?
There is a study trip in the first year and in the second year you spend an entire semester (half a year) in a European city together with your classmates. We call this Living in the City, where you work, live and study in that city and also do a placement and carry out projects locally. You will continue to take your classes at BUas online via Teams.
Student experiences
A semester abroad
You are challenged to become a 'local'; not just living abroad but really connecting to the city and its culture. And all this while developing yourself, building an international network, and working on your project in the meantime.
Lola went on an internship to Valencia
Students of the Urban Life & Placemaking specialisation of Leisure & Events Management have the opportunity to do an internship abroad. Lola Isbouts chose Valencia in Spain.
About this specialisation
This is a specialisation for students of the Leisure & Events Management programme. From the second year onwards, you can choose to attend the English or Dutch specialisation in Urban Life and Placemaking.
More about this degree programme: