In our Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC) programme, you will work with an international group of fellow students and lecturers on designing sustainable cities for the future. How do we solve problems related to energy, mobility and waste in the city? How do we create healthy, inclusive cities, where citizens are actively involved? These questions challenge us to develop integrated smart sustainable solutions for economic, social and environmental problems. Our future depends largely on whether we’ll be able to boost the sustainable development of cities. So join the SSC minor programme and become the smart sustainable city professional of the future!

Content

As more and more people around the world live in cities, it is important we change our cities’ dependence on non-renewable energy, that we limit the use of (building) materials that are not part of a closed cycle. Cities need to provide a healthy living environment for all citizens, with affordable and accessible mobility.

To do this, we need to find and implement sustainable solutions that can easily fit in with the ways in which people live  and you can be part of that process! During the programme, you combine regular course work with a project assignment from  real life clients.

Going abroad

During this minor you will get the unique opportunity to go abroad for a short period. You will work on one of the ‘Sustainability Challenges’ for clients Netherlands or abroad. The project locations abroad may differ per year. Past projects abroad took place in e.g. Valencia  (Spain), Turku (Finland), Manchester (UK) andBochum (Germany). The costs for travel and accommodation are for your account. Students that have a full-time registration at HU may be eligible for ERASMUS+ short term mobility funding.

Courses

The programme consists of a 15 EC Introductory Course and a 15EC multidisciplinary ‘Sustainability Challenge’. In the Introductory Course you will learn more about energy, mobility, circular economy and healthy urban living in various workshops and excursions, and you’ll learn how to apply relevant methods and techniques for researching, designing and advising on/about Smart Sustainable Cities.

During the Sustainability Challenge, you work independently with your team on behalf of a real client (for example the municipality). In this challenge your are supported by a tutor and experts. You will explore the sustainability challenge that they are facing, you will design smart, creative, innovative and viable solutions for this challenge. You are of course also responsible for project management.

You work on the analysis of Smart Sustainable Cities (SSC)  challenges, the design of SSC solutions and the evaluation of their feasibility. These sustainability challenges are complex but reasonably structured, the available methods are known, the context is multidisciplinary and situated in practice, and coaching supervision is available.

After successfully completing this course, you can:

• analyze a given urban situation in terms of community needs, (built) environment and processes;
• propose hands-on, innovative, smart, creative and viable solutions and recommendations;
• apply a set of analytical, design and project management skills and the knowledge gained from instructions and workshops;
• work successfully in an interdisciplinary and international team, comparing, analyzing and combining your own and others’ ideas and solutions;
• develop communicative skills (presenting, writing, discussing) , and   personal/professional skills for life-long learning (reflection skills, personal development plan, critical thinking)
• critically evaluate the quality of the solutions proposed.

This multidisciplinary minor is open to all students who are interested in the development of smart sustainable cities. Everybody is welcome with the right motivation, your previous education could be related to  sustainability, engineering, IT, social studies, communication, business or design.. Apart from that there are no formal admission requirements, but you are expected to have attained English CEFR level B2. .

This minor is only suitable for fulltime students.

Rietbergen, M.G., R. van Stigt, E-J. Velzing (2021). Smart Sustainable Cities – a handbook for applied research. HU University of Applied Science Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. ISBN: 9789089281494. All other literature is made available through the digital learning environment.

The schedule and the days are not yet known. The Introductory Course will take place about three days a week, the Sustainability Challenge is scheduled for about two days a week. There are no online classes. Only for students who choose to go abroad during the Sustainability Challenge, online classes can be arranged.

With the exception of the first teaching period of the academic year (starting September), the lesson and test schedules are always posted on Mijn Rooster four weeks before the start of each teaching period. The schedule for the first teaching period of the academic year can be found on the site three weeks before the start. The most up-to-date schedule is always visible on Mijn Rooster. 
At HU, full-time education may be scheduled between 08:30 and 19:00.

Assessment takes place through:

• Test
• Research plan
• Reflection report
• Final report
• Presentation

Signed learning agreements can be uploaded up to and including 4 December 2026 in Osiris Registration, see the instructions on the learning agreement or check our site. Learning agreements that are received after 4 December will not be processed.  

Please note: Learning Agreements will be considered in order of entry in Osiris Application (first come, first serve). A submitted learning agreement will not entitle you to a spot within a minor unless the following is the case: 

* The minor is not yet full: each minor has a maximum number of places per period 

* The student has submitted the learning agreement in full (including his/her own details and signature and the stamp of the examination board). 

* HU has signed and stamped the learning agreement