CITY | BUILDING | CULTURE Department Profile: Digital Transformation – Urban Futures Forming Society Design ∙ Build ∙ Preserve

Urban Futures (MA)

Blick auf Berlin mit Fernsehturm

The master's programme urban future offers students from different disciplinary backgrounds the opportunity to study urban transformation processes in an inter- and transdisciplinary way. You will acquire the necessary subject-specific and interdisciplinary skills and knowledge that will enable you to work independently, scientifically, creatively and interdisciplinarily, to critically reflect on scientific findings and to act responsibly in the context of urban transformation processes. In each academic year, there is a specific cohort topic on which in-depth content-related knowledge and contacts in research-based practice are established.

Abschluss:
Master of Arts
Type:
Full time
Course language:
German
Standard study period:

4 semesters

Start of study:
Winter semester
Application deadline:

15/05 – 15/06 (restricted admission)

Admission requirements:
Thematically relevant first university degree qualifying for a profession
Credits:

120 ECTS credits

Module Manuals & Regulations
Profile

Main topics

With regard to disciplinary specialisation, three thematic specialisations are offered that describe central aspects of urban systems and focus on the design of spatial, social, infrastructural, cultural and aesthetic processes and structures – each from a different perspective: the built, social and digital city.

Built city

  • Sustainable infrastructures
  • Sustainable neighbourhood development
  • Urban metabolism

Social city

  • Demographic change, heterogeneity and social inequality
  • Participation and active shaping of transformation processes
  • Attitudinal and behavioural change

Digital city

  • Analysis and visualisation of urban data
  • Digital transformation in media, culture and economy
  • Algorithmic ethics and responsibility

Study the city of tomorrow

The transformation of urban spaces into sustainable structures is one of the great challenges of our time. This transformation encompasses ecological, spatial, structural, social, cultural, design, infrastructural, technological and economic aspects equally and interdependently, for whose challenges there are no simple and sectoral solutions. The research-oriented master's programme urban futures enables you to think in a networked manner and to work in an interdisciplinary manner, to tap your creativity and innovation potential and to acquire profound knowledge and contacts for research-based practice.

Poster "Die Stadt von morgen studieren"
Poster "Das Studium in Struktur und Praxis"

Video Urban Futures

The major challenges of sustainable urban development include demographic change, climate protection strategies, measures as a result of social segregation, participation processes and big data in the context of urban infrastructure (smart cities). The master's degree in urban futures provides the technical and methodological competences required to carry out well-founded analyses of these tasks and to develop integral solutions.

Is this degree programme right for me?

In the master's programme, you will be enabled to think in a networked manner in the context of urban development and to work in an interdisciplinary manner, as well as to tap into your creativity and innovation potential. You will be provided with profound knowledge and contacts in research practice. The variety of content-related and methodological topics and questions inherent in the complexity of the topic of "Urban Future" cannot be fully covered in a four-semester master's programme. This makes it all the more important to practise an attitude of lifelong research-based learning during the degree programme in order to be able to move competently in the worldwide and constantly changing range of knowledge.

You bring these qualities with you

  • Interested in research and engagement with building, social science or information technology issues in the bachelor's degree programme
  • Interest in creative activity
  • Analytical and conceptual way of thinking
  • Independence, communication, organisational and team skills

Further information

Information day for prospective students on the 6th of May 2024

Would you like to get to know the course content better, talk to students and discover the campus? Come to the info day of the urban futures degree programme of the CITY | BUILDING | CULTURE department on the 6th of May 2024 online via Zoom!

Info Day 2024

FAQ

This list is intended to help you answer the most frequently asked questions about our master's programme urban futures. If you have any further questions, please feel free to send us a personal request via the e-mail address uz@fh-potsdam.de. We will answer you as soon as possible.

The master urban futures is not a degree programme where the classical qualifications for urban and regional planning are taught. The focus is on inter- and transdisciplinary project work, but not on urban planning or urban design as is usually the case in planning degree programmes. We deal with the diverse questions of sustainable urban development in an interdisciplinary way. The article "Learning Transformation" describes the intentions, methods and teaching formats of the study programme in more detail.

The composition of the master's programme is interdisciplinary: About half of the 20 places in each year are allocated to students with a background in planning and design, natural sciences and technology, and the other half to students with a background in cultural and social sciences. In concrete terms, these are mainly geographers, urban and regional planners, architects, cultural and social scientists, political scientists, designers, media and communication scientists, psychologists, economists, but also cultural work, social work, information and library sciences, art history, choreography are represented disciplines – if there is a strong interest in the city and interdisciplinary work.

In the master's programme, a distinction is made between compulsory and elective subjects. The programme is designed so that the compulsory courses take place from tuesday to thursday. On mondays and fridays, as well as in the peripheral periods, there is the possibility to take elective subjects, to prepare for and follow up on courses, for self-study and for part-time work.

Further information on the study structure, the study and examination regulations and the module regulations

The master's degree programme offers plenty of scope for deepening individual study interests within the framework of the electives. In addition to the electives at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (practically from all degree programmes), you can also attend courses at other universities and receive credit. Furthermore, MOOCs or "special forms" (such as summer schools, etc.) are possible course variants.

Since the introduction of the master's programme in the winter semester of 2016, we have seen a steady increase in demand. In the last two years, we have had between 90 and almost 120 applicants for every 20 places. Since the selection for the admission procedure is based on the bachelor's grade and the application letter, no clear NC can be determined for admission. If you are interested, we recommend that you apply regardless of your grade point average.

Get all important information on the application procedure.

Individual part-time study is also possible. Please see our further information and requirements.

The aim of the research internship in the third semester (module 9 with a scope of 20 ECTS credit points or 600 working hours) is to gain practical experience with organisational structures and operational processes in the internship institution and to work on complex research questions in the context of urban transformation processes. With a qualified secondary activity, the intended qualification goals can also be achieved during the course of study; crediting of secondary activities for the research internship is therefore possible upon application. In order to avoid a time overload, other study achievements may then have to be completed in deviation from the planned regular course of studies.

Urban Future Talks

Die Urban Future Talks thematisieren Fragen städtischer Transformation. Mit ihnen wollen wir die Komplexität urbaner Prozesse in einer digitalen Zeit besser verstehen und Wege für eine nachhaltige urbane Entwicklung aufzeigen. Als diskursives Format ermöglichen sie einen engen Austausch zwischen Theorie und Praxis. #UrbanFutureTalks

Urban Future Talk #1 | Beteiligung im digitalen Zeitalter

Gäste und Themen: 

Jörg Noenning - Professor für Digital City Science an der HCU Hamburg 

Beyond the Smart City. Die kluge Stadt als cyberphysikalisches System

Yannick Haan - Projektmanager bei Hack Your City

Wie man seine Stadt hackt

Carolin Schröder - Bereichsleiterin Partizipation am Zentrum Technik und Gesellschaft der TU Berlin

Über Grenzen der Partizipation

Moritz Maikämper - Fachgebiet Stadtmanagement der BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg

Beteiligung vor Ort: Stadtentwicklungsprozesse in Brandenburg

 

Urban Future Talk #2 | Mapping as a Critical and Transformative Practice

Gäste und Themen: 

Adrian Labaye - HU Berlin

Performing the Urban Commons trough Collaborative Mapping

Anne Fenk - Habitat Unit, TU Berlin / MOD Institute

Remapping - Questioning the Atlas

Herbert Lohner - BUND Berlin

Mapping Environmental Justice in Urban Areas

Nina Hälker und Katrin Hovy  - HCU Hamburg

"Decision Support or Shaping Decisions? – the Use Case of FindingPlaces"

Alexandra Toland- TU Berlin

Aesthetic Cartography 

Adam Harvey - Artist & Researcher

Geo-Visual Forensic with Computer Vision

Sebastian Meier - Technologiestiftung Berlin Ideation and Prototyping Lab 

Personal Cartographic Perspectives

Urban Future Talk #3 | Gemeinschaftliches Wohnen. Aktuelle Tendenzen und Herausforderungen

Die gesellschaftliche Debatte um gemeinschaftliche Wohnformen hat sich in den letzten Jahren verändert. Es besteht eine größere Akzeptanz für gemeinschaftliche Wohnformen, deren Beitrag für eine nachhaltige Stadtentwicklung anerkannt wird. Doch der Weg von der Nische zum Trend wird zunehmend durch steigende Boden‐ und Baupreise versperrt. Neue Förderinstrumente helfen nur bedingt, da weiter unklar ist, was denn die besondere Förderwürdigkeit gemeinschaftlicher Wohnformen ausmacht. Zugleich fächern sich Idee und Praxis gemeinschaftlicher Wohnformen weiter auf: neben Baugruppen und Projektinitiativen, die sich über Genossenschaften oder Syndikat ein Haus bauen, wollen auch große Wohnungsbauunternehmen Elemente gemeinschaftlichen Wohnens im Neubau integrieren. Und in neuen, teils kommerziell, teils non‐profit‐basierten Mini‐Apartment‐Häusern oder co‐work/co‐living wird Gemeinschaft noch mal flexibler und partieller ausgestaltet. In der Veranstaltung wurden vier Perspektiven vorgestellt und diskutiert zu den Fragen, was das Besondere gemeinschaftlichen Wohnens ausmacht und wie ein gesellschaftlicher und förderwürdiger Mehrwert von "Gemeinschaftlichem Wohnen" definiert werden kann.

Barbara König – Bremer Höhe eG, Berlin

Förderung gemeinschaftlicher Wohnformen – der Beitrag von Genossenschaften für gemeinnütziges, innovatives und nachhaltiges Wohnen

Robert Ostmann – urban coop berlin eG, Berlin

Die letzten Nischen nutzen: Neue Formen der Kooperation und neue Wohnkonzepte zur Realisierung gemeinschaftlichen Wohnens auf angespannten Wohnungsmärkten

Michael Matuschka – BARchitekten, Berlin

Welche Rolle spielen Architekten (noch) als Initiator gemeinschaftlicher Wohnprojekte?

Ricarda Pätzold – DifU, Berlin

„Die Relevanz und der Mehrwert gemeinschaftlichen Wohnens aus Sicht der Kommunen“

 

Contact

The colleagues at the student counselling service provide information to prospective students, first-year students, parents, teachers and students on all general questions about the degree programme. If you have specific questions or concerns about the master's programme urban futures, please contact the subject counselling service.

Subject Counselling Service

Subject Counselling Service

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Prytula
Research professor for resource-optimised and climate-adapted construction
Head of Urban Future (M. A.)

Social media

Study Content

Course of studies

The standard period of study for the full-time degree programme urban futures is four semesters and concludes with a master of arts degree. The study plan gives you a detailed overview.

Semester 1 Visions of urban futures, city as a complex system, methods, electives
Semester 2 Inter- and transdisciplinary project, methods, electives
Semester 3 Research internship, electives
Semester 4 Master's thesis and colloquium

 

Study content

In the master's degree programme urban futures, you will study with a high project component, which serves to translate and further develop the state of research taught in the degree programme into feasible concepts for urban problems in a practical manner. The focus is on promoting methodological competence while taking disciplinary in-depth studies into account.

In the currently valid module handbooks, study and examination regulations and statutes of the urban futures degree programme, you will find the module overview, a detailed description of the modules and study contents, the study plan as well as the statutes for the implementation of the university selection procedure for the master's degree programme urban futures.

Modules

  • Visions of urban futures
  • System City
  • Futurology
  • Reading Group
  • Data Science
  • Inter- and transdisciplinary project
  • Project and Change Management
  • Modelling of Complex Systems
  • Individualised study (electives)

Research internship

In cooperation with municipal and city-related partners and under the supervision of lecturers, you will carry out a practice-oriented research internship of 560 hours.

Master thesis

  • Master's thesis and colloquium with accompanying supervision

Results from the urban futures degree programme (selection)

2023

  • David Anmacher: Postkoloniale Perspektiven auf Verdrängung in Berlin
  • Dirk Heider: Innovation in der Verwaltung
  • Elise Rebien: Zu teuer, zu wenig, zu Hause in Berlin. Eine systemische Analyse zur Politik des bezahlbaren Wohnungsbaus in Berlin
  • Martin Parlow: Willkommen in Brandenburg? Über Wohnraumreserven im Land Brandenburg und deren Zugänglichkeit für Berliner Wohnungslose

2022

  • Annekathrin Bake: Wohnflächenkonsum der Zukunft – Szenarioanalyse richtungsweisender Zusammenhänge
  • Anne-Liese Lammich: Beteiligungskultur in Klein- und Mittelstädten
  • Annika Weseloh: Alles nur Schall und Rauch? Eine Szenariostudie zu Entwicklungspfaden einer produktiven Stadt Potsdam
  • Carol-Andrea Yousseu: Entschärfung des Berliner Wohnungsmarkts durch Baulandmobilisierung
  • Chantal Schöpp: Zirkuläre Stadtquartiere 2040 - Was wäre, wenn sich Stadtquartiere 2040 an den Prinzipien der Circular Economy ausrichten würden? Welche Planungsvarianten ergeben sich daraus?
  • Claas Fritzsche: Klänge des urbanen Alltags. Der Soundscape-Ansatz zur Bewertung von Qualitäten öffentlicher, urbaner Räume
  • David Siedke: Institutionalisierung informeller Bürgerbeteiligung – eine Bestandsaufnahme
  • Dominik Berton: ( Re-) Arranging parking spaces – Transformationspotentiale von Parkflächen
  • Ilka von Eynern: Hast Du Platz in Potsdam? Ein bedarfsorientiertes Konzept zur Beteiligung junger Menschen an der Innenstadtentwicklung in Potsdam
  • Jill Ann Theobald: Zirkuläre Quartiersentwicklung – Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze für die zirkuläre Gestaltung von Neubauquartieren
  • Ken Dornberger: Die Straße der Zukunft jetzt gestalten – ein Quick-Check zur Neugestaltung und nachhaltigen Transformation öffentlicher städtischer Straßenräume im Bestand
  • Kyra Wohlgemuth: Gesundheitheitsfördernde Stadtentwicklung auf der Mierendorffinsel in Berlin
  • Laura Koch: ( Re-) Arranging parking spaces – Transformationspotentiale von Parkflächen
  • Laura van Altena: Die Pandemie als Ideenmotor für Beteiligungsprozesse in der integrierten Stadtentwicklung
  • Lena Blüggel: Die Transformation von urbanen Shopping Malls
  • Max Tristram: Realexperimente als Werkzeug der Stadtplanung: Vitalisierung von öffentlichen Räumen in Innenstädten
  • Nils Kaltenpoth: Systemwandel in der strategischen Planung
  • Oseanne Blech: Entrepreneurs and the smart city – An ambigiuous relationship
  • Paulina von Kietzell: Gestaltung von Innovationsökosystemen für die nachhaltige digitale Transformation im ländlichen Raum am Beispiel des 'Modellprojekt Smart City Bad Belzig/Wiesenburg'
  • Sophia Lenz: Gendergerechte Stadtplanung im Lehrplan deutscher Hochschulen. Analyse zum Status Quo der Lehre von gendergerechter Planung
  • Thomas Haas: Beschleunigte Landschaften – Zum Zustand peripherer Räume im urbanen Metabolismus
  • Yulia Aster: Visuelles Storytelling als Kommunikationsmethode für Transformationsprozesse im urbanen Raum

2021

  • Beatrix Unger: Reallabor als Beteiligungsinfrastruktur in der nachhaltigen Stadtentwicklung – Die Initiative Lokallabor Dudenschänke
  • Constantin Dubyk: Evaluierung von Modulen und Funktionen einer kollaborativen Arbeitssoftware mit dem Ziel einer gesteigerten Gruppenkohäsion in virtuellen Teams.
  • Cornelius Dauer: Urban Gardening als Beitrag zu einer nachhaltigen Quartiersentwicklung
  • Elise Werner: Zukunftsbilder zur Transformation der Mensch-Natur-Beziehung. Ein systematisches Review
  • Fabian Rösch: Wie kann Crowd Shipping vor dem Hintergrund der dortigen Anforderungen und Probleme sinnvoll in ländlichen Räumen etabliert werden?
  • Falko Boek: Herausforderungen und Potenziale bei der Umsetzung des Onlinezugangsgesetzes auf kommunaler Ebene. Roadmap für ausgewählte Modellkommunen in Brandenburg
  • Felix Jaekel: Auswirkungen der geplanten Klimaneutralität 2050 auf Offstreet-Mobilitätsinfrastruktur in Moabit
  • Fidel Thomet: Here, everything is still possible – a design fiction approach to explore futures of non-places
  • Franziska Schmidt: Grünräume in Berlin und Umland. Eine Analyse der stadtübergreifenden Entwicklungen aus historischer und zukünftiger Perspektive.
  • Iva Radic-Capuani: Healing Gardens as a concept for rethinking post-pandemic public spaces
  • Jana Schelte: Akzeptanz von & Erfolgsfaktoren für Mieterstromprojekte am Beispiel der Gartenstadt Drewitz (Potsdam)
  • Johanna Bröckel: Reallabor als Beteiligungsinfrastruktur in der nachhaltigen Stadtentwicklung – Die Initiative Lokallabor Dudenschänke
  • Judith Lenz: Generationsübergreifende Projektentwicklung in schrumpfenden Städten für eine nachhaltige Bildung
  • Krista Smathers: Entwicklungsstrategien für erschwinglichen Wohnraum in Sanierungsvierteln. Eine Vergleichsstudie zu Projekten in Deutschland und den USA
  • Kristin Bauer: Potenziale von Zukunftsforschungsmethoden in der
    Umweltkommunikation
  • Léonie-Anne Schwöbel: Die öffentliche Toilette
  • Lotte Langer: Eine Szenarioanalyse zur Wirksamkeit von urban citizienships/IDs auf Partizipationsmöglichkeiten
  • Marie-Ann Koch: E-Partizipation – Eine Lösung der Ressourcendilemmata? Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel der Kinder- und Jugendbeteiligung in Potsdam
  • Meike Ortmanns: Der Zusammenhang von psychischer und urbaner Resilienz
  • Merle Leisner: Die öffentliche Toilette
  • Mina Mahmoodian Esfahani: Safe Space im Kontext emanzipatorischer Raumpraxis
    am Beispiel vom Schumacher Club in Bochum
  • Mohamed Saleh: Chatbot im öffentlichen Sektor
  • Mohial-Dean Mansoor: Wie könnte eine rassismuskritische Behörde aussehen?
  • Regina Schröter: Welche Rolle spielt Coworking als Arbeitswelt in der Zukunft?
  • Thora Weidling: Großwohnsiedlungen als problembehaftetes Erbe der Nachkriegszeit – Die Wirksamkeit der Städte – Bauförderungsprogramme im Hamburger Quartier "Mümmelmannsberg"
  • Tobias Schmidt: Reallabor als Beteiligungsinfrastruktur in der nachhaltigen Stadtentwicklung – Die Initiative Lokallabor Dudenschänke

2020

  • Anika Lenk: Identifikation und Untersuchung der sozialen Akzeptanz von Flugtaxis im Personenverkehr in Deutschland anhand einer empirischen Studie
  • Caroline Zygmunt: Radverkehrsqualität im Berliner Planungsraum Boxhagener Platz.
  • Catherine Eckenbach: Visionen einer nachhaltigen Welt entwerfen: über die Rolle ästhetischer Praxis bei der Erarbeitung konkreter Utopien
  • Daniel Almgren Recén: Urban Trees in Berlin – Challenges and potentials in a changing climate.
  • Fabian Fleckenstein: Interkulturelles ökologisches Wohn- und Lernhaus in ressourcenpositiver Bauweise
  • Jana Lohmann: Treiber und Barrieren für die Inanspruchnahme von E-Scootern durch weibliche Nutzerinnen
  • Marie Vogelmann: Entwicklung eines neuartigen Kreativkonzeptes zur Unterstützung des eigenständigen Erlernens moderner Fertigungstechniken
  • Martina Dreßelt: Inside sheltered walkways - Deriving the Urban Futures. A Transformative Research Study on Human Mobility and Spatial Perception in Singapore’s Public Housing Estates
  • Nele Trautwein: Relevanz und Umsetzung stadtplanerischer Leitbilder am Beispiel des Leitbilds der Gartenstadt des 21. Jahrhunderts für die Neuen Stadtquartiere Berlins.
  • Pascal Schwerk: Agentenbasierte Modellierung eines Bikesharing-Angebots im suburbanen Raum. Eine praktische Modellentwicklung am Beispiel Luckenwaldes.
  • Susanne Helm: Urbane Klimagovernance in der Landeshauptstadt Potsdam
  • Valentina Troendle: Eine webbasierte Wissensplattform als Artefakt gesellschaftlicher Transformation und Grenzobjekt der Stadt-Land-Integration?

2019

  • Clara Guigas: #bikingberlin. Entwurf einer datenbasierten Social Marketing Kampagnenstrategie zur Förderung von Fahrradmobilität in Berlin.
  • Felix Grünziger: Sozial-ökologische Transformation der Ernährungswirtschaft im Kontext eines digitalen Social Impact Start-ups – Wie lassen sich Nachhaltigkeitsziele im Bereich des biologischen Obst- und Gemüsehandels am Beispiel der Querfeld GmbH identifizieren und operationalisieren?
  • Ilya Alexander Yacine: Digitale Formen der Kollaboration. Eine Vergleichsanalyse von physisch und digital organisierten Projektinitiativen.
  • Janik Fechner: Partizipationsprozesse in der Entwicklung städtischer Quartiere – Auswirkungen von partizipativ gestalteten Stadtentwicklungsprozessen auf urbane Qualität.
  • Julia Ullrich: Berufsfelder im Kontext zukünftiger Arbeitswelten – Am Beispiel des Innovationsclusters Verkehr, Mobilität und Logistik.
  • Katharina Mayer: Welche Perspektive bietet die Genossenschaft sozialer Träger in der wachsenden Stadt Berlin bei der sozialen Wohnraumversorgung marginalisierter Gruppen?
  • Marius Wittmann: Strategien urbaner Bodensicherungssysteme. Exploration innovativer Instrumente.
  • Michael Schmidt: Berufsorientierung 4.0 – Anforderungen, Handlungsbedarf und Entwicklungspotenziale der schulischen Berufsorientierung im Kontext der Arbeitswelt von morgen am Beispiel von Berlin
  • Nadine Neidel: E-Partizipation – Welchen Einfluss haben neue Beteiligungsmodelle auf Bürgerbeteiligungsprozesse?
  • Nathalie Wachotsch: Perspektiven queerer älterer Menschen auf den (Stadt-) Raum.
  • Nicolas Moegelin: Developing a business model for a Clean Air to Market concept.
  • Nicole Hengesbach: A Matter of Place? – Unpacking an Air Quality Data Assemblage.
  • Sarah Krebs: Vertikale Landwirtschaft im urbanen Raum – Chancen und Grenzen – Welche Projekte können hier als Vorbild dienen?
  • Selim Guelbas: Potentiale von autoarmen / autofreien Stadtquartieren
  • Tobias Kauer: tales of a street - Mixed-Methods Mapping of Local Knowledge.

2018

  • Julie Zwoch: Moralisches Framing in der Diskussion über Mobilität der Zukunft
  • Sebastian Gütte: Kommunikation von Energie- und Stoffströmen als Werkzeug für einen nachhaltigen Umgang mit Ressourcen.
  • Sonja Spital: Wohnen und Resilienz – Cluster-Wohnungen als eine Antwort auf Herausforderungen des Wohnens.

Mapping Cities - Making Cities.
Results from interdisciplinary project courses in which students from Urban Future and Interface Design dedicate themselves to the visual analysis and communication of urban data.

Building Social Ecology
Building Social Ecology is a documentation of social-ecological building projects and typical design elements that occur in these projects. We have identified typical design patterns that can be found frequently and in different forms in the projects. The method is based on the "Pattern Language" (Alexander et al. 1977), which aims to be a tool for planning and designing living cities, buildings and constructions. This documentation was produced as part of the DBU-funded research project "Centrum für Metropolinnovation Bratislava" (06/2020 - 03/2022), for which, among other things, already realised social and ecological examples were analysed.

In the seminar "Visions of Urban Futures", real questions about the urban future are developed in interdisciplinary teamwork and put up for discussion by means of poster presentations.

Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (2) 1. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (1) 1. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (4) 1. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (5) 1. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (1) 2. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (2) 2. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (3) 2. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (4) 2. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (5) 2. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (6) 2. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (1) 3. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (2) 3. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (3) 3. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (4) 3. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (1) 4. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (2) 4. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (3) 4. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (4) 4. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (1) 5. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (2) 5. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (3) 5. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (4) 5. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (5) 5. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (1) 6. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (2) 6. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (3) 6. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (4) 6. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (5) 6. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (6) 6. Jahrgang
Visionen Poster Master Urbane
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (2) 7. Jahrgang
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (3) 7. Jahrgang
Poster mit Visionen des Studiengangs Urbane Zukunft
Poster mit Visionen des Studiengangs Urbane Zukunft
Master Urbane Zukunft Visionen Poster (6) 7. Jahrgang: Mein Potsdam der Zukunft - Kinderfreundliche Digitale Kommune
Visionen Poster des 8 Jahrgangs im Master Urbane Zukunft
Visionen Poster des Masters Urbane Zukunft - Roadmap zur Radhauptstadt
Visionen Poster im Master Urbane Zukunft des 8. Jahrgangs zum Thema Mehrsamkeit statt Einsamkeit
Visionen Poster des Masters Urbane Zukunft des 8. Jahrgangs zum Thema ehrliche Partizipation
Plakat des Masters Urbane Zukunft zum Thema Stadt, Angst, Raum

Research projects

More projects

TDR4HAW: Transdisciplinary Research at Universities of Applied Sciences – Status Quo and Potential of a Sleeping Giant

The project consortium analyses research at universities of applied sciences (UAS) with a special focus on transdisciplinary research projects.

GraDiM: Granularities of Dispersion and Materiality – Visualising a Photo Archive on Diaspora

In collaboration with photographer Frédéric Brenner and his international project team, the GraDiM research project is developing theoretical and technical concepts for the visualisation of a photo archive with particular sensitivity for a collection documenting the Jewish diaspora.

CLIMATE MAPS: Visualising Local Climate Futures

Cooperation with the daily newspapers taz and UCLAB with the aim of conveying climate information via various channels using data visualisations. For this purpose, both physical and digital postcards with visualisations on different aspects of climate protection in Germany were designed and produced.

Balkone mit grünen Pflanzen an einem Hochhaus

In study

On the pages of the CITY | BUILDING | CULTURE department you will find further useful information and documents on the degree programme, for example on the organisation of the degree programme, the course catalogue and the research internship. Furthermore, current projects of the degree programme are presented there.

Further information on the degree programme
Career Prospects

Career prospects

You will be trained to conduct inter- and transdisciplinary research into visions of the future so that you can develop complex approaches to solutions for sustainable urban development in the context of building and housing, technical infrastructure and mobility, as well as demography and social structure. The competent use of data spaces and visualisations and other digital research methods is a central cross-cutting theme in all of the above-mentioned subject areas.

Extensive research projects and development projects are created in cooperation with practical partners from the economy, municipal administrations and scientific institutions. These enable a research-oriented study structure and direct participation in research and development processes within the framework of the study projects, internships and master's theses.

The concept of a transformation manager who works as an interface communicator, especially in the field of urban development and in the communication of political and social institutions or associations, serves as a model.

Possible areas of application

  • Companies and institutions whose task is the production, design and mediation of urban living spaces, such as consulting companies, interface and communication design, research and development in the field of human-machine interfaces as well as cultural work, media and communication, marketing and tourism.
  • International companies with a service portfolio for urban services and infrastructures
  • Start-ups
  • International organisations
  • Access to management positions and higher service

Scientific career

The entitlement to a doctorate also opens the way to an academic career, e.g. in university or non-university research and teaching.

  • The approach of this inter- and transdisciplinary degree programme is absolutely contemporary, because the city as a crystallisation point of social, economic, technological and ecological developments absolutely requires the training of competences that can be summed up very nicely with the term transformation manager.

    Beate Schulz-Montag
    foresightlab, member of the advisory board

  • The city and infrastructure form a unit, but are often thought of separately. There was a close co-evolution between infrastructure and urban development. I think we have to rethink this co-evolutionary process. An integrated development of city and infrastructure, that is the central question for me. That is the meta-question behind everything. The aim of the study programme is to think of the city and infrastructure as a unit again.

    Jens Libbe
    German Institute of Urban Affairs, member of the advisory board
Application & Contact

Dates & requirements for your application

The most important deadlines, dates and admission requirements for the master's programme urban futures are compiled here. You can find out which steps you need to take for a successful application in the next section.

Dates

Access requirements

First professional university degree (at least 180 ECTS credits) in the following fields of study:

  • Technical/design-related: e.g. architecture and urban planning, design, urban and spatial planning, civil engineering
  • social science-related: including sociology, psychology, social work, cultural work, politics, geography
  • related to data and information processing: including computer science, information science, statistics and data science, computer visualistics

This is how you apply!

In the following, we explain which aspects you should pay attention to from the online application to enrolment (registration).

Applications for the winter semester are accepted online at from 15 May to 15 June via the MyCampus university portal of the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences.

Documents to be submitted

When applying online, the following documents must be submitted as PDF files in the application portal:

  • University degree certificate(s) including diploma supplement or current overview of achievements with the ECTS credit points and grade earned to date, if the degree programme has not yet been completed.
  • Letter of motivation (max. two pages): The letter of motivation should provide information about the motivation and identification with the chosen degree programme and the intended profession. In particular, the motivation to study should be explained in a differentiated manner and placed in the context of the applicant's previous career and professional prospects.
  • Project outline – description of a possible research project – for the master's degree programme, maximum two pages in length.
    - State of the art in research or technology on the topic, with a reference to relevant literature
    - Description of the research objective
    - Content-related proximity to the current year's topic is desired
  • Tabular curriculum vitae

Checklist

After completing your online application in the MyCampus university portal, you will receive a personal checklist with the following information:

  • List of all supporting documents that you have uploaded as PDF files according to the information you provided in your online application
  • Notes on the further course of the procedure

Selection procedure

Applicants who fulfil the admission requirements take part in the procedure for awarding places.

In the allocation procedure, the following are deducted in advance from the number of study places to be allocated:

  • All applicants who were unable to accept an earlier admission due to service and all applicants who belong to the national squad of a national sports federation of the German Olympic Sports Confederation
  • 11 % for applicants with a foreign university entrance qualification
  • 3 % for applicants who are to be considered on the basis of hardship.

The remaining study places are allocated 90 % according to the result of a university selection procedure and 10 % according to waiting time.

The result of the university selection procedure is determined on the basis of the following criteria (weighting in brackets):

  • Grade of the professionally qualifying university degree (40 %).
  • Project outline for the Master's programme (30 %)
  • Letter of motivation (30 %)

Admission

Following the university selection procedure, the award procedure is carried out. Applicants with a correspondingly high ranking receive a time-limited offer of admission in the MyCampus university portal, which they must actively accept. After accepting the offer of admission, you will find your notification of admission in the MyCampus university portal. If you do not accept the offer of admission by the deadline, the ranking list will continue to be processed and the place will be reallocated.

You have accepted the offer of admission and received your letter of admission? Then you have the opportunity to submit an enrolment application for the upcoming winter semester in the MyCampus university portal of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

Once you have submitted your online application for enrolment, please submit the printed and signed application together with all required documents in paper form by the deadline. The day of the enrolment deadline is decisive for the submission of the documents, whereby the date of receipt by post at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam is decisive.

Documents to be submitted

  • University entrance qualification
  • If applicable, further documents according to the enrolment application form.

Do you have questions about the enrolment process at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam? We have compiled frequently asked questions and answers regarding enrolment and admission.

Further information

The following links provide you, and especially international applicants, with further information on the topics of application and enrolment at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.

International applicants

You would like to apply for studies from the first or a higher semester and have acquired your school-leaving qualification and/or university degree abroad? Then you can have degrees and achievements acquired abroad recognised and study with us.

Application information for internationals

Application & Enrolment Procedure

The application and study service provides information and advice on general questions regarding the application process, admission and enrolment at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, application for a higher semester, but also on topics such as compensation for disadvantages, part-time studies, waiting semesters and hardship applications.

Application & Enrolment University of Applied Sciences Potsdam

Contact & Services

The student counselling service provides information and advice on general questions about studying as well as on topics such as choosing a degree programme, application, enrolment and study organisation.

For subject-specific questions on module content, credit transfer, examinations or specialisations in the urban futures degree programme, the subject counselling service is the right place to go.

Subject Counselling Service

Subject Counselling Service

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Michael Prytula
Research professor for resource-optimised and climate-adapted construction
Head of Urban Future (M. A.)

Student Financing

studienfinanzierung@fh-potsdam.de
House 4
Room 3.02a

Family Affairs Commissioner

famteam@fh-potsdam.de
House 5
Room 026

Office hours

Tue and Thu 9.30 am – 1.30 pm

Commissioner for University Employees with Impairment

behindertenbeauftragter@fh-potsdam.de
Main Building
Room 0.17

Office hours

by arrangement

Contact Persons Department of Student Affairs

Beatrice Schwarz, B. Sc.

Hauptsachbearbeiterin Bewerbungs- und Studien-Service

Andrea Voigt

Sachbearbeiterin Bewerbungs- und Studien-Service

Sabine Colditz