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The PhD Programme in Urban Studies, taught in association between Iscte - University Institute of Lisbon and the School of Social Sciences and Humanities at NOVA University Lisbon (NOVA FCSH), confers a dual degree from both institutions.
This programme offers advanced and interdisciplinary training in urban research through a perspective that integrates various disciplines such as Sociology, Anthropology, History, Geography, Economics, Architecture and Urbanism. The programme breaks new ground in Portugal, encouraging critical reflection on urban issues that are of increasingly import in a country that, in recent decades, has experienced an intense and complex process of urbanization. Furthermore, the programme promotes the linkage between scientific research and professional practice in various contexts of intervention, both public and private.
The research conducted within this programme lies between the domains of multiple research centres accredited by the FCT in both institutions, thus creating a space of interdisciplinary reflection around the knowledge derived from their specific research projects. In Iscte, these centres include CIES, DINAMIA'CET, and CRIA; in NOVA FCSH, they are CICS.NOVA and IHA.
Applications are open for the 2025/2026 edition, which will take place at Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon.
Applications for Iscte Merit Scholarships will be accepted from PhD students in Urban Studies.
DGES initial reference: R/A-Cr 141/2011 de 06-09-2011
DGES reference update:
Programme structure
2026/2027
With a highly qualified faculty from the various academic fields that comprise Urban Studies, this doctoral programme is organized into 8 semesters (2 semesters of presential classes and seminars + 6 semesters of supervised research), totalling 240 credits, and will occur at FCSH-UNL.
Optional courses will only be held if they achieve a minimum number of enrollments.
Optional courses can be selected from other PhD programs at NOVA FCSH or ISCTE-IUL
Unidades curriculares
Semester
ECTS
Recommended elective
Optional courses will only be held if they achieve a minimum number of enrollments.
Optional courses can be selected from other PhD programs at NOVA FCSH or ISCTE-IUL
Unidades curriculares
Semester
ECTS
Recommended elective
Optional courses will only be held if they achieve a minimum number of enrollments.
Optional courses can be selected from other PhD programs at NOVA FCSH or ISCTE-IUL
Objectives
Generic
add
Students should acquire the skills to:
identify problems and reflect critically on the complexity of urban life;
describe the social, cultural, and spacial features of cities, and their impacts on urban experience;
interpret and explain urban diveristy, relating it to the idea of the city in different historical and cultural contexts;
demonstrate an understanding of urban forms, as well as their structures of governance;
apply concepts and methods from multiple social sciences to analyze urban issues and problems;
utilize mixed methods and multi-level perspectives with an aim towards producing practical knowledge that can be used for on-site intervention and strengthing local communities;
articulate a well-defined research problem within a self-driven investigation that relies on primary sources as well as a variety of theoretical and methodological perspectives, enabling the writing of an academically and socially relevant final thesis.
To present the main theoretical debates that take place in broad interdisciplinary field of urban studies at present, without forgetting the most important traditions in the disciplinary domains; To encourage doctoral students to scientific interdisciplinarity through the diversification of theories and analytical points of view; To sensitize students to the importance of concepts in the preparation of research process, adjusting them to issues to be developed over the course; To promote critical reflection on urban processes, its interpretations by social and political agents involved in the processes of evaluation and decision; To encourage understanding of long-term processes in the analysis of urban change and its consequences in specific territories; To enable students to articulate between the theories presented and the processes in analysis, for its explanation in a sustained manner.
The syllabus is organized into 5 modules that synthesize complementary theories that focus on the analysis of urban phenomena. It will be approached from Chicago School, to French School of Social Morphology, to social thinkers and planners of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to philosophers of the city, to the current theories on globalization and to urban revitalization and metropolitan segregation. A first module focuses on disciplinary traditions of sociology and anthropology, drawing on concepts which are relevant. A second deals with images and representations of the city in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries from the perspective of urbanism. A third module is marked on the look of the architect about the city, recurring to theory and practice of thinking about space. In fourth module it will be debated how power relations evolve urban territory and fifth module is a reflection of new forms of governance that impress contemporary dynamics in cities.
The evaluation of the student shall be the sum of the monitoring activities of asset classes and discussion of the texts presented (30%) and the final report resulting from a unique reflection of its development and discussed with the teachers (70%).
Mandatory
AAVV. 2010. Teoria e Crítica de Arquitectura -Séc. XX. CaleidoscópioBourdin, A. 2005. La Métropole des individus. Éditions de l’Aube|Boyer, M. C. 1994. The City of Collective Memory. MIT Press|Brenner, N. & R. Keil (eds.). 2006. The Global Cities Reader. Routledge|Buck-Morss, S. 1991. The Dialectics of Seeing. MIT Press|Choay, F. 1995. L’urbanisme: utopies et réalités. Seuil|Divay, G. & J. Wolfe. 2002. Metropolitan Governance Background Study. INRS/Urbanisation|Hall, P. 2002. Cities of Tomorrow. Blackwell (3rd ed.)|Harvey, D. 1979. Social Justice and the City. Edward Arnold. Lefebvre, H. 1968. Le droit à la ville. Anthropos|Mumford, L. 1961. The City in History. Harcourt, Brace and World|Park, R.; Burgess, E.; McKenzie, R. 1925. The City. University of Chicago Press|Portas, N. 2005. Arquitectura(s). FAUP Publicações|Sassen, S. 2008. “The Specialized Differences of Global Cities.” Urban Age: Newspaper Essay. Solà-Morales, I. 2002. Territórios. Gustavo Gili.
This course aims to achieve: - Systematization of the range of issues that have been analyzed by urban studies, focusing on the historical evolution of cities, their contemporary social and urban problems and challenges as well as the field of policies to tackle these problems and challenges. - Advanced and in depth training concerning the issues that seem more relevant in the current context of intense social and urban transformation in close collaboration with research centers involved.
In pursuing these objectives we seek to help students acquire the following competencies: - Ability to carry out an integrated and multidisciplinary reflection, and develop independent research on the main problems of urban studies. - Master the advanced knowledge about the diversity of issues and debates on key perspectives and approaches to the city.
The vast body of research and theoretical and conceptual analysis of the field of urban studies can be systematized in three axes of issues: the axis of the processes of urbanization and transformation of cities, the axis of the various nodes of the urban issues and the axis of public urban policies in order to tackle those problems. The program is structured in the following modules: 1.Urban change dynamics: historical perspective of the city and urbanization processes; diversity of current models of city 2.Consumption and urban culture: consumption as a structural axis of the current urban economies, implications for urban life; expression of urban cultures and city policies 3.Housing and ways of living: analysing the centrality of the housing function to produce the city, diversity and social and urban inequalities; ways of living, urban mobility and lifestyles 4.Urban policies: sectoral policies; globalization and integrated and systemic city policies.
The evaluation model is based on the student participation in those presentations (50%) and the writing of a paper, on the state of the art of one of the urban studies issues presented (50%).
Mandatory
- Thorns, David C. (2002), The Transformation of Cities, Nova Iorque: Palgrave
- Short, John (2006), Urban Theory: a critical assessment, Nova Iorque: Palgrave.
- Rodrigues, Walter (2010), Cidade em Transição, Lisboa: Celta Editora.
- Jaine, Mark; (2005), Cities and Consumption, Londres: Routledge.
- Graham, Stephen e Simon Marvin; (2001), Splintering urbanism, Londres: Routledge.
OA1 - Design and develop a research project in urban studies demonstrating that dominates the literature and be able to select and process information from different sources. OA2 - Master the conceptual, theoretical and methodological tools to conduct original research in urban studies. OA3 - Define the supports research literature. OA4 - To develop the capacity for critical analysis and communication on the topics under study.
CP1 - Presentation and discussion of research development for the planning of the doctoral thesis project. CP2 - Research to present should consider the following points: - Delimitation of thema and search field to develop. - Identification of the problem. - Definition of the object of study and research objectives. - Literature revision. - Definition of a methodology. - Definition of dissemination strategies of research findings.
The assessment is individual and will focus on: 1. Participation in seminars (intercalary presentations) - 20%. 2. Elaboration of a thesis project in the area of urban studies - 50%. 3. Presentation and discussion of the project in the final sessions - 30%.
Mandatory
AKKER, Merle van den (2023). The Ultimate Guide to Doing a PhD (e-book). Word Scientific. DUNLEAVY, Patrick (2003). Authoring a PhD Thesis: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Dissertation. Editora: Palgrave Macmillan. GLASMAN-DEAL, Hilary (2010). Science Research Writing: For Non-Native Speakers of English. Imperial College Press, London GOSLING, Patricia; NOORDAM, Bart. (2011). Mastering Your PHD. Survival and Successin the Doctoral Years and Beyond. Springer. O’LEARY, Zina (2014). The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project. Editora: SAGE. THOMSON, Pat; WALKER Melanie (2010). The Routledge Doctoral Student's Companion: Getting to Grips with Research in Education and the Social Sciences (Companions for PhD and DPhil Research) Editora: Routledge. ZIEGLER, Andrew (s.d.). A Short Guide to Writing a Research Proposal. (Kindle Edition) Tom Davis (Editor).
Optional
ALMEIDA, João Ferreira de; PINTO, José Madureira (1995), A investigação nas ciências sociais. Lisboa: Editorial Presença. BODENHAMER, David, CORRIGAN, John, HARRIS, Trevor (eds) (2020). The Spatial Humanities. GIS and the Future of Humanities Scholarship. Indiana University Press. ECO, U. (2007). Como se faz uma Tese em Ciências Humanas. 15ª ed. Lisboa: Editorial Presença. TRWLER, Paul (2015). Writing Doctoral Project Proposals (Doctoral Research into Higher Education) (Kindle Edition). PEREIRA, Alexandra; POUPA, Carlos (2018). Como escrever uma tese, monografia ou livro científico usando o Word. 7ª Edição. Edições Sílabo.
At the end, each student must be able to: 1. Reflect critically on the different dimensions of the ‘urban’, in terms of its spaces, temporalities, scales of observation, and models of analysis; 2. Identify and relate different urban research methodologies, contextualizing and relating them to specific disciplinary traditions; 3. Discriminate the various stages of a research project, understanding their sequence; 4. Plan the research process, in an open and multidimensional way, adapting it to the complexity of urban realities; 5. Integrate ethical and deontological principles of urban research.
The program is organized into four thematic modules that present ways of approaching urban complexity, from different angles of observation and analysis. Each module is made up of two to four sessions in which concrete research cases that clarify this methodological variety are discussed. In addition to these 5 modules, there is also an introductory and a concluding module. P1. Presentation of the program: the city’s methodological challenge P2. Urban landscapes and space syntax P3. Temporalities and urban mobilities P4. Urban planning and geographic information P5. Urban Ethnography P6. City, urbanity, and urban governance P7. Final comments
Assessment is carried out throughout the semester. In addition to participating (writing and discussing) in classes and reading the recommended bibliography, each student must prepare a practical exercise, with tutorial support, which forms part of the methodological development of their doctoral project, using methods and techniques appropriate to their proposal. The student's assessment will be the sum of the following activities: a) active monitoring of the modules, including participation in the seminar discussion (25%); b) oral presentation of the draft of your methodological exercise (35%); final essay (40%). This UC does not have a final exam.
This UC aims at framing, in seminars, the research work of each individual student. This individual work constitutes most of the ECTS. Being the process of doctoral research an individual one, the course of research of each student will be followed, in this thesis seminar, in a collective and guided manner, through the presentation of ongoing work and discussion. This UC also will include the presentation of consolidated research by guest speakers, national and foreign, according to the thematic lines defined from concrete investigations of doctoral candidates. One of the purposes of the thesis seminar is to train and prepare students to present a clear, concise, objective and compelling their interim results of research, both written, and oral and visual material. Ethical issues will be emphasized.
Being an interdisciplinary doctoral course of study, it is impossible to anticipate what the programmatic lines of the seminar which aims to theoretically and methodologically monitor the development of individual doctoral theses. At the beginning of each academic year a schedule of sessions will be organized, biweekly, based on survey on current research, including conferences by visiting scientists as part of the programmes of the research lines and of the ongoing projects, of research centres and institutions both associated with this course of study.
At the end of each year's work, the doctoral candidate must submit a progress report, in line with a publishable scientific paper. This report will be presented at the seminar and submitted to a national or international journal.
Programmes can offer all vacancies in the first phase or distribute them by phase. Vacancies not taken up in a phase are carried over to the next phase. The opening of the next application phase is subject to the existence of vacancies.
