Metadata
Title
Building Inclusive Cities: Tackling Urban Inequality and Segregation
Category
general
UUID
aa59c0f1b9e7447d8462114fc22a4155
Source URL
https://learningforlife.tudelft.nl/building-inclusive-cities-tackling-urban-ineq...
Parent URL
https://learningforlife.tudelft.nl/our-courses/architecture-and-urbanism/urban-d...
Crawl Time
2026-03-23T11:25:08+00:00
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Building Inclusive Cities: Tackling Urban Inequality and Segregation

Source: https://learningforlife.tudelft.nl/building-inclusive-cities-tackling-urban-inequality-and-segregation/ Parent: https://learningforlife.tudelft.nl/our-courses/architecture-and-urbanism/urban-development/

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For instructor paced courses this is the length of the course.

For self-paced courses this is the length of the course if you spend the amount of time per week as specified. You're free to go faster or slower as you see fit.

7 Weeks - Effort 4 - 5 Hours per week

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Discover how urban design can help tackle inequality and socio-economic segregation in cities. Learn how to use analytical tools to measure these two phenomena and make urban design part of the solution.

Urban design, inequality and segregation are strongly connected.

Cities around the world, from the Global South to the Global North, are facing a rise in inequality and socio-economic segregation. The wealthy are increasingly concentrating in the most attractive urban areas and poverty is spreading to the suburbs. Rising levels of segregation have major consequences for the social sustainability of cities and leads to unequal life opportunities depending on where in the city you live.

In this course, aimed at a broad range of professionals, from urban planners and architects to geographers, you will learn what the main drivers and indicators of urban inequality and segregation are, using examples from cities from all over the world. You will learn how segregation is measured, how to interpret the results of the analyses of segregation and how to relate these insights to urban design. With this knowledge, you will be able to analyze how these issues may be affecting your local environment.

Additionally, we will present some historical examples of how urban design has played a role shaping spatial inequality and segregation in a selection of case study cities. This will help you to get a better understanding of how urban design can reduce spatial inequality and segregation.

The course is taught by the editors of the new SpringerOpen book "Urban socio-economic segregation and income inequality. A global perspective" and senior experts from the Urban Design section of TU Delft, which is ranked number 2 in the QS World University Rankings in the field of Architecture.

##### Quote from Learner

"I enrolled to further my knowledge in Urban Planning. I've attended quite a number of online courses but this one so far is one of the best. Learning the cultural motivation of planning and the methods employed tailored to them, helped me understood on a broader level, how to approach local problems in planning." - Louie Camry, Architect from Philippines - Details

### Course Syllabus:

Week 1: Introduction

In the first week you will learn about the key concepts of this course – inequality, segregation, the inclusive city and urban design, as well as how these concepts relate to each other. Global segregation trends will be explained and illustrated through case studies. We will discuss how urban design can help to reduce spatial inequality in cities. By sharing the experiences of your peers, you will find out about differences in various parts of the world.

Week 2: The vicious circle of segregation

The second week focuses on the connectedness of segregation in different domains of daily life: places of residence, work, schools and during leisure time. The concept of a vicious circle of segregation helps us to understand these connections. We further discuss the role of inequality in producing and reproducing segregation, and how place-based, people-based and connectivity-based policy responses can help to break this circle. You will find out that there are many ways to measure segregation and learn how to interpret segregation indices.

Week 3-5: Regional, city and neighborhood scale

In the parallel modules in weeks 3-5, you will be introduced to the multiple relationships between the physical form of cities and the creation of an inclusive living environment on three different urban scales: regional, city and neighborhood. Inclusive cities must provide all citizens with equal access to public resources, including opportunities to participate in the planning and governance of space. Dutch case studies in which methods of analysis are demonstrated will enable you to assess an urban environment's potential for inclusivity.

Week 6: Final assignment

Our shared goal is to build inclusive cities all over the world. In week 6 you will work on the final assignment with reference to your own urban context. You will bring together challenges and solutions to address inequality and segregation, using theories and tools presented during the course.

Week 7: Re-connect

In the last week we will re-connect and learn even more from each other. We will look back at the methods and design concepts offered in the course, at the solutions you developed for your own urban context, your vision of an inclusive city and your views on the role that urban design can play in breaking the vicious circle of inequality and segregation.. - Qualifications

##### Chartered Engineering Competences

All our online courses and programs have been matched to the competences determined by KIVI’s Competence Structure, a common frame of reference for everyone, across all disciplines, levels and roles.

These competences apply to this course:

This is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that runs on edX.

##### Prerequisites

We recommend for you to take the Rethink the City MOOC as an introduction to this course.

This course is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). Our MOOCs are delivered on edX.org and are open to all. They include video lectures, readings, assignments, and community discussions. Content is free, with optional certificates and additional exercises available for a fee.

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