Master of Science in Human Geography
Utrecht University
Key Information
Campus location
Utrecht, Netherlands
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 year
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
EUR 2,209 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
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* EU/EEA, Surinam or Swiss students; €17,500: International students
Scholarships
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Introduction
A Program with a Solid Foundation
In the Master's program Human Geography you can specialize in Urban or Economic Geography by choosing a track:
- Urban Geography: Neighbourhoods & Residential Dynamics
- Urban Geography: Daily Life & Public Spaces
- Economic Geography: Business & Location
- Economic Geography: Regional Development & Policy
Cities and Urban Regions: Opportunities and Concerns
Urban regions are dynamic places where people get together and generate new ideas. They are breeding grounds for innovation and economic growth. Many people still move to the city, chasing their dreams: for a challenging career, a pleasant living environment, all the amenities within easy reach. And besides the local residents, large numbers of tourists visit the city seeking an entertaining stay.
The continuous urban growth in an increasingly global economy has both winners and losers. On the one hand, there are start-ups that expand to become large companies. While on the other hand, there are traditional companies that succumb to global competition. How can we explain success and failure?
Urban growth also leads to a great diversity of people and lifestyles, which ensures thriving communities. Yet there are also places where spatial and social inequalities reveal themselves between communities. This results in unpleasant living environments and neighborhoods in decline. How do you breathe new life into those communities?
In the Human Geography Master's program, you learn how urban and economic issues are interwoven. As a student of the Human Geography Master’s, you will study the city and its economic developments from various academic perspectives and thematic angles, with an interdisciplinary approach.
An International Focus
This Master’s program has an international character. We welcome students from around the world onto the program. This way you are provided with the opportunity to come into contact with other cultures and national contexts. You will go on an international field trip and can complete your Master's thesis project and/or internship. You will be able to find work in many fields, positions, and locations following graduation.
Program Outcome
This Master’s program gives you a thorough understanding of important urban and economic issues. You will receive comprehensive training in the methodological and critical analytical skills needed to find possible solutions for challenges in urban regions. Working from a scientific and theoretical foundation, you come into contact with the daily practice. Through guest lectures and practical assignments (active learning), you will learn what graduates do and be able to determine where you would be most at home.
Your choice of graduation subject and optional research internship provides the best way for you to present yourself to future employers. The program has made arrangements with various companies, research agencies, and government organizations regarding internships and interesting research projects. However, an internship is not mandatory and if you choose to do an internship, as part of your graduation subject, you need to arrange for this internship yourself.
The Utrecht University's Master's program in Human Geography offers you the unique possibility to:
- study how urban and economic issues are interwoven while at the same time specializing in a topic of your choice and personalizing your program.
- develop a strong connection with the labor market through guest lectures from alumni, internships, problem-based assignments, and professional competencies courses to prepare for the labor market.
- gain an international perspective in an international learning environment, with the opportunity to do your Master's thesis and/or internship abroad.
- take a field trip to an important city and conduct site visits with professional speakers.
- get tailored guidance throughout the year, including assistance in designing a Master's thesis project and finding an internship.
- obtain supervision by an esteemed team of tutors and researchers who conduct research within the Utrecht institute of Urban Futures. They are at the center of societal concerns, have extensive contacts with international researchers and the private sector, and are always abreast of the latest developments.
- focus on the practical application of innovative theoretical concepts and discussions.
- gain training in advanced quantitative and qualitative research methods and techniques, with optional modules to further develop your techniques.
Curriculum
Tracks
The Human Geography program offers four different tracks. Two of the tracks mainly focus on urban geography, while the other two focus on economic geography. There are also courses common to both tracks, such as the starting course Urban Futures. On the basis of elective courses, you can also put together your own track, combining elements of both specializations.
Urban Geography: Neighbourhoods & Residential Dynamics
The first urban geography track is about relocations between different living environments over time and the consequences of these relocations for cities and neighborhoods. The interaction between the housing market, the labor market, and the relocations of inhabitants is the main focus.
You will search for answers to questions such as:
- Who decides to live where? Is it a neighborhood containing similar people or preferably a mixed community?
- What does this new influx mean for the image of cities and neighborhoods? And for the social cohesion between groups?
- What kinds of encounters occur in cities and neighborhoods that are becoming increasingly diverse?
Urban Geography: Daily Life & Public Spaces
The second urban geography track focuses on daily life. In this track, you learn who participates in which work, shopping, and leisure activities. You take a close look at the routes and locations used by inhabitants and visitors. You also take into account the fact that the access to and quality of public spaces containing facilities are not always equally distributed.
You pose questions such as:
- What does the unequal distribution of public spaces mean for social diversity, encounters with 'others', and social networks?
- What influence does this inequality have on processes of social inclusion and exclusion, the liveability of neighborhoods and cities, and the health of city dwellers?
- How can you change mobility and daily activities and experiences with redevelopment and restructuring?
Economic Geography: Business & Location
With the first economic geography track, you will specialize in entrepreneurship - from large multinational corporations to small-scale local business activity and start-ups. Regardless of whether you are examining old or new companies, or small or large ones, the main focus is the spatial conditions for their arrival or creation on the one hand, and the spatial consequences of their business activity on the other.
You will reflect on questions such as:
- How do companies, internationalization, and regional development affect each other?
- What does entrepreneurship mean for neighborhoods?
- How can we explain the regional variation of starting and young companies and their chances of survival?
Economic Geography: Regional Development & Policy
In the second economic geography track, you study the life cycle of regions. There are many traditional industrial areas in Europe with a different resilience that attracts or develops new business activity. In parallel to this, other urban regions compete with each other to attract investments and stimulate innovation.
You will seek to answer the following questions:
- How can you strengthen the traditionally industrial areas in Europe and what role can the European Union play in this?
- Who profits in the innovation competition - the large regions, through scale or agglomeration benefits, or rather the small regions, by being embedded in urban networks?
- What are the effects of the sometimes inconsistent EU regional policy? How does regional lobbying work in order to change this policy?
Career Opportunities
Human geographers can be found in numerous public and private organizations in the field of urban and economic development. Positions held include consultants, advisors, or researchers, who work on specific social or economic issues.
The program has an extensive alumni network, which is also involved in teaching. Through guest lectures and practical assignments, you will learn what graduates do and be able to determine where you would be most at home.
For example, in the masterclasses of Professional Competences (with options), you will learn how to make your research results accessible to a wider audience, how to draw up a policy report, or how to deal with opposing political or other interests in practice.
The knowledge and skills acquired via the Human Geography Master's program make our graduates successful in careers in a wide range of public and private organizations, including:
- Government ministries
- Provincial and local authorities
- Private consultancies
- Research agencies
- Housing associations
- Project developers
- The business sector
- Universities
Graduates in the former Urban Geography and Economic Geography Master's programs have for example found jobs at:
- Advies- en onderzoeksbureau Decisio
- Arcadis
- ASR
- Amsterdam in Business
- Bureau BUITEN
- Bureau Stedelijke Planning
- Companen
- DTZ Zadelhoff
- Gemeente Amsterdam, Bureau Onderzoek en Statistieken Dienst Wonen, Zorg en Samenleven
- Gemeente Utrecht, Ruimtelijke en Economische Ontwikkeling/Economische Zaken
- Gemeente Overbetuwe, afdeling Economische Zaken
- Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken, Directoraat-generaal Wonen en Bouwen
- Multi Corporation
- Natuur- en Milieufederatie Utrecht
- Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving
- Planterra
- Portaal
- Royal Haskoning DHV
- Rabobank Nederland, Kennis en Economisch Onderzoek
- Regionale ontwikkelingsmaatschappij Oost NV
- Urban Resort