Urban Design – Shape the Cities of Tomorrow
- Degree
Exchange
- Start date
February
- Location
Deventer
- Duration
5 months
More and more people are living in cities, and this growth is reshaping how we live together and how our urban environments function. In the Urban Design programme, you learn how to create future proof designs for places, neighbourhoods, villages, and cities. You develop the creative and critical mindset needed to navigate a rapidly changing world, where spatial, social, and environmental challenges are deeply interconnected. As an urban designer, you explore how cities can work better for everyone by imagining ideal scenarios and translating them into thoughtful, practical spatial designs. This programme equips you to create meaningful, resilient, and innovative solutions for the urban challenges of today and tomorrow.
Team work
Throughout the programme, you work together with students from Urban Planning, Public Administration and Climate&Management on design‑driven projects. Working in interdisciplinary teams helps you understand how planning, governance, climate strategies, and design come together in shaping urban spaces. You develop into an urban design professional who can connect people and places, translate ideas into spatial concepts, and approach assignments with both creativity and strategic awareness. By working closely with others, you learn to navigate different perspectives and design solutions that respond to the needs of diverse users and stakeholders.
Future perspective
As an urban designer, you learn to create forward‑looking visions and spatial concepts that address a wide range of contemporary and future challenges. You apply your design skills and urban knowledge to imagine how places can evolve in more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient ways. Throughout the programme, you develop the ability to respond creatively and confidently to a rapidly changing society — one in which environmental, social, and technological developments continuously reshape our cities. This future‑oriented mindset equips you to design meaningful solutions that stand the test of time.
Additional skills
Together with students from Climate & Management, Spatial Planning, and Public Administration, you learn to approach urban issues from multiple professional angles. This interdisciplinary environment encourages you to think creatively and develop innovative design solutions for the cities of tomorrow. Through project work, you naturally strengthen essential skills such as research, communication, intercultural collaboration, and stakeholder engagement. You also gain insights into governance and decision‑making processes that influence how urban spaces take shape. Together, these skills help you grow into a versatile and confident young urban design professional.
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More info about studying at Saxion?
Urban design
As an urban designer, you develop creative spatial concepts that shape the everyday environments in which people live, work, and move. You learn to recognise the beauty, identity, and quality of places, and to link your design choices to social trends, human behaviour, and current urban challenges. The programme integrates urban design, architecture, and design‑research methods, helping you understand how people use cities and which models and approaches to apply when creating vibrant, inclusive urban environments. You translate your ideas into powerful, future‑proof solutions, working them out in detailed drawings, mock‑ups, and 3D visualisations.
A key part of the programme is the design studio, where you focus on planning and shaping public spaces—from central malls and city entrances to streets, squares, and broader urban systems. You explore how public spaces can be functional, socially engaging, and aesthetically meaningful, while responding to real‑world challenges.