Urban Studies

The Urban Studies MSc is a two-year interdisciplinary programme focused on rethinking cities and socio-environmental change. Key areas include urban nature, housing and infrastructure. Students will engage with materials, architecture, landscapes and technology against the backdrop of global capitalist dynamics and persistent social hierarchies. The programme centers affordability and reparative action in order to transform planning, policy and society.

Urbanism is a fluid concept encompassing the urban everyday, a professional arena and an academic field of study. Urban Studies is therefore a collaborative place for students with diverse interests including architects curious to understand the bigger picture, social studies graduates seeking to ground theory in actual neighbourhoods, and artists interested in engaging the urban arena. What unites them is a shared concern for social equity spanning the built and natural environments.

Students will be introduced to a range of skills such as critical thinking, institutional literacy, strategic planning, community engagement, fieldwork and academic writing, along with basic methods in design, mapping and GIS. The program is placed within the creative infrastructure of its university, and students enroll in joint and elective courses organized in collaboration with other programs and departments. A critical study of urban change opens up pathways to truly transformative, unique careers in policy, planning, academia, advocacy and beyond.

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Fast Facts

Duration / Volume
2 years / 120 ECTS

Form of Study
Daytime studies

Level / Language
MSc / English

Tuition Fee
2200€ / per year

Read more about the curriculum
Admissions
01 February – 02 March 2026

Requirements
Must hold a bachelor’s degree.

Language Requirements
English proficiency at B2 level

Read more about admissions
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News and events

Urban Studies MSc programme online info session 2027

EKA Urban Studies MSc programme invites prospective master’s students to join the programme’s online info session on Tuesday, January 12, 2027 at 17:00 EET (local Estonian time). This online info session will be a good opportunity to hear more about the curriculum, and to meet and ask questions directly from people behind the Urban Studies programme. The info session will be hosted online ...
Urban Studies

Master’s thesis presentations by EKA Urban Studies students

Everyone's warmly invited to Master's thesis presentations by EKA Urban Studies students. May 25, 2026, 09:30 EKA, A-501 09:30–10:20 Melissa Lee The Uneven Grounds of Publicness: Community and Control in Singapore’s Void Decks 10:20–11:10 Maria Kazlovskaya Making Space, Finding Meaning: Youth and the Use of Urban Space in Tallinn, Estonia11:20–12:10 Adeolu Jeremiah Afolabi Island Urbanism: ...
Faculty of Architecture Urban Studies

Urban Studies Exhibition in Logi Sauna

We are happy to announce the Urban Studies Exhibition at 18.04 in Logi Sauna. Exhibition "Ebbs and Flows, Perspectives on Baltic Sea and Beyond"Opening: May 18, 6pmOpen: May 19–20, 12am–7pmLocation: Logi Saun This exhibition presents work from Urban Studies Studio 2, developed through a semester-long inquiry into the Baltic Sea and its wider urban, socio-political and ecological relations. ...
Urban Studies

Open Lecture by Wangui Kimari  “Water, Coloniality and Disobedience”

Nairobi, a city of close to five million people, congregates many hopes, experiences and struggles. Yet, across the colonial archive, its challenges have been defined primarily as those concerning ‘vagrants’ and ‘squatters,’ for instance; identities that congregate in the figure of the African. Following independence, the targets of formal city management lament and destruction remain ...
Urban Studies

New article by Maroš Krivý, “The Inhuman Scale”

New article by Maroš Krivý, "The Inhuman Scale: Jan Gehl, Capitalism and the Making of Livable Cities" published in Studi e Ricerche di Storia dell’Architettura. The open-access article can be read here. Abstract: Creating vibrant pedestrian areas is today an aspirational value and a mark of success for affluent municipalities and many private developers the world over. The Danish architect ...
Faculty of Architecture Urban Studies

Urban Studies MSc programme online info session 2026

EKA Urban Studies MSc programme invites prospective master’s students to join the programme’s online info session on Monday, January 12, 2026 at 17:00 EET (local Estonian time). This online info session will be a good opportunity to hear more about the curriculum, and to meet and ask questions directly from people behind the Urban Studies programme. The info session will be hosted online over ...
Urban Studies

More Layers, More Layers! – Detouring Shtromka with Urban Studies students

A collective end-event of the Studio1: Urbanization course by the first year Urban Studies students. Feel free to jump in any time, bring your headphones and dress warm! Location: at Putukaväil, bus stop Ehte Start date: 07. 12. 2025. Start time: 12.00 Through the semester, we walked, talked, toured, detoured, shared, felt, lost and found the essence of Shtromka and now we would like to ...
Urban Studies

Greetings from Shtromka

Next Tuesday (14 October), Urban Studies students are hosting their midterm event at “Shtromka”. It starts at 4 p.m. in the park across Pelguranna tn 57, Tallinn. They invite you to a postcard workshop with food and drinks to learn more about Shtromka. You are cordially invited to attend the event. /// Hello there, Greetings from Shtromka! At first glance, it seems like a ...
Urban Studies

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