MEMUD

MEMUD (Middle European Master of Urban Design) is aimed at establishing a joint master program for urban design with a particular focus on the Central European Region, involving the Technical University Vienna (TU Vienna), University of Ljubljana (UL) and University of Split (UNIST). With this orientation, the program seeks to create strong transnational bonds in academic research training so as to improve the culture of urban design in the region on the one hand and to enter new fields of employment and enhance the job opportunities of graduates on the other.

The project provides the development of an educational platform for broader educational discourse within the discipline through exchange of knowledge and methodology that benefits from the diverse experiences and expertise of the involved institutions. Former successful collaboration has confirmed that the benefit of such cooperation lies not only in the production of a new model of planning and design education, but that it also enhances the existing structures in education of participating universities.

Mobility, migration and adaption to ever changing environments have become key issues for the contemporary urban landscape. Also for successful and effective urban design and planning these have become prerequisites. The education of young urban designers in a joint collaboration needs to respond to these requirements through particular training in flexible and processual thinking, collaborative work in-depth knowledge of urban and planning processes, in techniques of research and knowledge acquisition and in communication with formal and informal stakeholders.

As an effect, the project contributes not only to the educational system but to the regions and their communities at large. Experiences in different and foreign environments, other forms of knowledge acquisition and new methodologies in planning allow for the implementation and of thoughtful, research-based and openly tested and reviewed proposals designed specifically for the local context. Local communities thus benefit from the project by being involved in the processes of round table discussions, lectures, presentations and exhibitions.

Additional benefits lie in stabilizing the existing educational network and further academic output in professional journals and web-platforms. On the long run, the program is geared towards quality improvement in urban planning through the academic training of experts in shaping the built environment by fostering new and inclusive research-based design methodologies and transnational knowledge exchange.

The project includes the development of the curriculum, the content of the program and other accompanying strategies concerning mobility and knowledge exchange, the training of educators and a pilot phase of the MA program.