EC5 - Smart, Circular and Resilient Cities and Regions

This postgraduate course focuses on how cities and regions can transition towards smart, circular, and resilient development by combining digital technologies, circular economy principles, and inclusive governance. It covers key themes such as IoT and data analytics, urban resource management, policy and financing frameworks, and resilience planning, linking theory with practical urban challenges. Delivered fully online, the course equips students with the skills to design evidence-based, ethical, and future-oriented strategies for sustainable urban and regional transformation.

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Data-Driven Urban Planning

Circular & Resilient Strategy Design

Governance & Territorial Innovation Leadership

Your 13-Week Journey

Understanding how digitalisation, sustainability and governance shape modern cities and regions.

Applying circular economy principles to urban systems, planning and resource management.

Using data, IoT and platforms to enable smart and circular city operations.

Exploring smart city concepts through architecture and contemporary urban planning.

Mapping material and resource flows to identify circular opportunities in cities.

Applying systems thinking to design resilient cities within planetary boundaries.

Identifying circular activities, gaps and synergies across urban and regional ecosystems.

Designing adaptive infrastructure, mobility and logistics for climate resilience.

Assessing circularity and resilience using indicators and monitoring systems.

Understanding EU frameworks supporting smart and circular territorial development.

Exploring investment models and funding mechanisms for urban transformation.

Managing circular transitions through participatory and cross-sector governance.

Designing inclusive, data-driven strategies for future circular territories.

Week 1 — Systems in Transition

See the world in systems.

Learn to rethink linear vs circular economies and explore planetary boundaries.

Week 2 — The Digital–Circular Nexus

Discover how tech enables sustainability.

Explore how AI, IoT, and data power circular innovation.

Week 3 — Policy as Infrastructure

Understand Europe’s circular blueprint.

Dive into the EU Green Deal, CEAP, and Digital Europe frameworks.

Week 4 — Designing for Re-entry

Design for durability, reuse, and remanufacturing.

Learn how digital twins and simulation tools extend product lifecycles.

Week 5 — Tracking Resources Through Data

Follow materials in motion.

Understand how IoT and data infrastructures create transparency in supply chains.

Week 6 — Blockchain for Accountability

Trust through transparency.

Explore blockchain’s potential for tracking, verification, and ethical assurance.

Week 7 — Learning Loops with AI

Let data drive regeneration.

See how AI and machine learning enable adaptive circular decision-making.

Week 8 — Cognitive Factories

Meet the new industrial symbiosis.

Examine how robotics and smart manufacturing create circular production systems.

Week 9 — Reverse Intelligence

Close the loop through recovery.

Explore reverse logistics, digital disassembly, and resource recovery networks.

Week 10 — Measuring Circularity

Turn data into progress.

Use metrics, KPIs, and dashboards to track circular performance.

Week 11 — Financing the Regenerative Future

Empower innovation.

Discover how deep-tech, investment, and valuation models support circular ventures.

Week 12 — Ethics and Mindsets

Lead with responsibility.

Reflect on ethics, human–machine collaboration, and the competences for circular leadership.

Week 13 — 2040 and Beyond

Imagine the future you want to build.

Learn to rethink linear vs circular economies and explore planetary boundaries.