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Universidad EAFIT
Carrera 49 # 7 sur -50 Medellín Antioquia Colombia
Carrera 12 # 96-23, oficina 304 Bogotá Cundinamarca Colombia
(57)(4) 2619500 contacto@eafit.edu.co

Agencia de Noticias / Noviembre 2013 Institutional / Medellin, the Laboratory for EAFIT’s new Masters Degree

Medellin, the Laboratory for EAFIT’s new Masters Degree

​​One of the goals of this Masters Degree is to help decrease conditions of inequality and conflict, and generate quality of life for communities in emerging contexts.

• The Masters Degree in Urban and Environmental Processes, coordinated by the Center for Urban and Environmental Studies (Urbam), will accept its first cohort in 2014.

• This program will approach topics like architecture, urban studies and landscaping, with a focus on environmental, public management and social issues.

The laboratory will be Medellin, a city that in recent years has experienced an urban transformation that included not only its territory, but also the environmental equilibrium and the customs of its inhabitants.

And this laboratory is the birthplace of EAFIT’s new Masters Degree in Urban and Environmental Processes, the Institution’s 29th, a program coordinated by the Center for Urban and Environmental Studies (Urbam).  This graduate degree will approach city and territory-related issues from an interdisciplinary point of view, and seeks to use the city as a case study.

International awards and events like the title Medellin received as the most innovative city on the planet (2013) and the Urban World Forum held in 2014 make the capital of Antioquia a reference point for transformation, a process used as an example that could be learned from and replicated in other places.

“We want to start systematizing what has been called the Medellin experience and continue making it visible.  In this regard, we have tried to highlight that this process isn’t only due to its architecture, but that there has been a lot of work done including the definition of public policies and work done regarding education, culture and public transportation”, explains Natalia Castaño Cárdenas, the degree coordinator.

This new program arises within this context.  It is already accepting registrations, and hopes to begin classes in 2014.  It will be a four academic semester-long graduate degree with a practical focus, which seeks to respond to the current fundamental problems of the country and the region.

Its area of action will be emerging, informal or conflicted urban and territorial spaces, where inequality is predominant, in order to analyze the implications of the issues for the lives of their inhabitants and the environment.

Thus, it is aimed at professionals in areas like architecture and environmental and social sciences, who are interested in working practically and in a cross-cutting manner on issues of urban studies, the environment and society, based on real case studies and projects.

“This Masters Degree has a space for innovation and experimentation.  There is a series of real processes around the world in which Medellin has become a leader.  We are interested in connecting to these projects and processes this city has taught us”, Alejandro Echeverri Restrepo, Urbam director, adds.

Added value

Its international component, practical nature, and union of concepts like urban studies and the environment are the main differentiators of this in-depth Masters Degree.

Urbam’s experience as a center for studies that has dedicated part of its work to consulting on and researching territorial and urban development projects within the province, as well as designing academic courses, many of them dealing with the transformation of Medellin, are also a fundamental element.

Public servants and students from different countries have participated in courses like Social Urban Planning and Experience Medellin, offered during the EAFIT Summer School, as well as other activities and forums organized around this topic.

This graduate degree arises out of an international network of institutions and universities that are interested in Medellin and in direct contact with Urbam.  We can highlight an agreement with Parsons The New School for Design (New York, United States), with which we offer a joint degree.

“The idea is that students will get a chance to participate in both programs and get both degrees.  We will also have guest professors and each semester we will have two seminars by international experts”, the Urbam director explained.

Another point that differentiates this program from other similar ones in the region will be the union of urban and environmental issues, two aspects that, traditionally, have been separated when dealing with urban and territorial problems, as well as approaching projects simultaneously from the point of view of public policy and other citizen activism processes.

Finally, it includes the creation of a kind of laboratory based on the development of real urban and regional projects that will also bring new ideas and solutions for social development.

Graduates will be able to actively participate in formulating and managing urban environmental projects and processes by using new tools for analysis and proposals based on citizen participation and public management.

Contact information
Marcela Olarte Melguizo
Journalist Information and Press Area
Telephone: 574 2619500 Ext. 9931 Mobile: 3113547204
Correo electrónico: molartem@eafit.edu.co

Última modificación: 10/08/2015 9:33