„Urban Regulations and Political Memory: Towards Understanding Spatio-Temporal Aspects of Urban Development” is an international, interdisciplinary course organised by five 4EU+ member universities: University of Warsaw, University of Milan, Charles University, Sorbonne University, Heidelberg University as part of the 4EU+ joint educational offer during the academic year 2025/2026.
Key topics of the course are the driving forces of urban changes, development of smart cities and interdisciplinary methodologies of urban studies. The course is developed as part of an educational project which addresses changes in the conditions of the urban development of smart cities in Poland, Italy, Czechia and Germany, according to three dimensions: past (history), present (law) and future (geography). Emphasis is put on integrated and interdisciplinary approach in order to help students understand the complexity of new urban centres in which real estate development must coexist with the protection of the environment and with the history and heritage of the local community.
The course will be conducted by an interdisciplinary team of historians, lawyers, geographers and educational sciences specialists.
Course dates: virtual part – Wednesdays afternoons, starting from 8 October 2025 (13:15-14:45 / 13:15-15:45 / 13:15-16:30); on-site part 23-27 February 2026
Language of instruction: English.
Number of online didactic hours: 47 (lectures and workshops): 27 virtual hours (October – December 2025), 20 on-site hours (23-27 February 2026)
Assessment methods and conditions for obtaining credit:
Group work: producing an essay and delivering a presentation (each student group has to comprise participants from different universities). Essays will be presented at a face-to-face conference (2 days) held at the University of Warsaw in February 2026 during 5 days on-site period of the course.
ECTS: 6 (University of Milan: history and law – only MA students).
Application and selection:
The students will be selected based on their CVs and motivation letters. The deadline for sending the documents is 23 September 2025. The CV and the motivation letter should be sent as a single PDF document to [e-mail] . The file's name should contain the applicant's name (surname_name.pdf), and the subject of the email should be "UNREAD recruitment”. The motivation letter should indicate the students’ objectives and motivations for taking the course. The motivation letter should not exceed 1,000 characters.