Creating Resilient Cities

The programme Creating Resilient Cities focuses on developing an applicable solution for a resiliency related challenge in an urban context. During the programme you will acquire knowledge with respect to resilience theories and strategies, use this knowledge to determine your own position towards resilience and to make the connection with your own professional background.

You will use your personal position towards resilience and your professional view to contribute to a resiliency related project by comparing Rotterdam with a city abroad and by working in a multidisciplinary and international project team. A fieldtrip to this city abroad is included in the programme and a mandatory part of it.

Multiple courses support in acquiring the knowledge and skills to come up with an applicable and relevant project result. You will focus on learning all about resilience theory, collaborate in diverse teams, and how to develop your own professional development as well as co-create knowledge about resilience with a broader audience.  

During this programme you learn to contribute to making cities more resilient by developing an applicable solution through comparative applied research in an international and multidisciplinary team. Several modules support you developing the necessary knowledge and skills.

The Resilience Challenge project (15 ECTS) is the heart of this programme. It challenges you to develop an applicable solution to a resilience related challenge through comparative applied research, fieldwork in Rotterdam and a pressure cooker in the partner city abroad. You will need to conduct in-depth comparative research, as well as be tested on your problem-solving skills. You will focus on a specific resilience issue and attempt to come up with the ideal solution, while making sure all relevant stakeholders are on board with your innovative design. The Resilience Theory (10 ECTS) and Resilience Professional (5 ECTS) modules, will assist you in this. 

Resilience Theory introduces you to a diversity of resilience theories and strategies through lecturers, guest lectures, excursions debates and literature study. You are challenged to determine your own position within the different theoretical debates and choose direction for your research project. Additionally, you are encouraged to constantly connect resilience theories to your research project through discussions and peer review sessions.

The Resilience Professional module invites you to go a beyond business-as-usual approaches but think out-of-the-box and come up with innovative solutions. As solutions are not yet at hand, learning is key to the process of finding solutions for resiliency related challenges. During this module you will develop your capacity to use learning as a strategy for problem solving by setting the agenda for your own professional development, working on your personal learning goals and organizing knowledge exchange events. You will also be supported in how to work in multi-disciplinary and international teams. This module encourages you in using diversity within your team to increase the quality and applicability of the solution.

Type of assessments

• Presentations
• Reports
• Papers
• Oral assessment

If you have successfully completed this exchange programme then you are able to:

• Contribute to a complex resilience challenge from the perspective of your own profession;
• Apply multiple resilience theories and strategies;
• Use critical thinking and creativity while doing applied research;
• Design a solution through multidisciplinary and international collaboration;
• Steer your own learning process;
• Share results through joint learning and co-creation.

After completing your exchange programme at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, you will receive a:

• Transcript of records
• Certificate of Attendance