Urban Policy and Territorial Governance - Master's Year 2

The Urban Policies and Territorial Governance program is part of the second year of the Master’s in Public Policy at Université Paris Dauphine - PSL. It is intended for individuals who wish to take on responsibilities in urban policy, management, and urban studies, or who aim to pursue a career in teaching and research. The program aims to train high-level professionals in the public, semi-public, or private sectors, as well as experts and researchers ready to tackle urban, environmental, social, and economic transitions.

This Master’s program (Year 2) fosters students’ versatility by combining various types of knowledge—academic, professional, and methodological—and covering multiple areas of urban policy, including governance, urban development, sustainable cities, housing, urban policy, mobility, economic development, and urban planning law.

The practical application of this knowledge is achieved through group projects supervised by faculty, involving territorial diagnostics combined with in-depth fieldwork in urban policy. These investigations draw on social science methodologies and mapping tools taught in the program.

The final component of the program—a six-month internship or a research thesis—allows students to specialize according to their professional goals.

Program objectives:

• Understanding of the issues, governance modes, and instruments of urban policies across different territorial scales.
• Development of strong expertise through the integration of theoretical, professional, and methodological approaches, as well as work on case studies (both in-class and field-based).
• Beyond essential institutional and technical knowledge, the program fosters a reflective analytical capacity on urban issues, drawing on insights from the social sciences and the interdisciplinary field of urban studies.
• Professional development through research, particularly via field investigations.
• A balance between versatility and specialization to support students' desired career paths.
  Support for those wishing to pursue a PhD, including assistance in formulating a research topic and identifying funding opportunities.
• Do a six-month internship or produce a research thesis