DDM Urban Governance within a Global Environment

Studying Planning in Beijing enables you to view your own surroundings through new eyes, which gives you a new perspective on how multi faceted urban planning can be in small cities and metropoles.
The urban age of our globe is now unfolding, with more than half of the world’s population living in cities. Three quarters of the world’s urban population are in the Global South, and China plays a critical role in shaping the global trend of urban transformation. In a country with more than 1.3 billion people, 650 cities, and 20,000 towns, the urbanization process has been inducing a series of social, spatial, and economic changes in contemporary China. These transformations in turn foreground a vital challenge for people living in, and moving into, cities: how could we make the urban space more productive, innovative, and inclusive? To address this question, we need to reflect upon theories and practices of urban governance and seek alternative modes that are in line with local and historical-geographical conditions of urban development.The Double Degree Master in Urban Governance within a Global Environment is a collaboration between the Faculty of Spatial Sciences of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, and the School of Public Administration and Policy of the Renmin University of China in Beijing. It combines the expertise of the Department of Spatial Planning a