Healthy Urban Systems - HUS

Join an inter and transdisciplinary program and discover various concrete tools to approach urban health complex systems.

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CIVIS focus area
Cities, territories and mobilities
Open to
  • Master's
  • Phd
Field of studies
  • Computer Science and IT
  • Medicine and Health
  • Social Science and humanities
  • Environmental sciences, Urbanism, Geography
Type
  • Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)
Course dates
16 February - 3 July 2026
Apply by
30 octobre 2025 Apply now

The BIP Healthy Urban Systems provides systemic conception and tools of health as the pulse of the new urban agenda for different postgraduate students and lifelong learning.

The program will consist of training a group of students who will follow:

  • the MOOC Healthy Urban Systems – UNIL/ Coursera (2 first parts: 8 weeks) with a series of complementary works/ assessments concerning the place they will visit in Brussels during the physical training;
  • a final face-to-face training at the Université libre de Bruxelles for an application on a case study with interaction with local stakeholders (1 week). This face-to-face training will replace the folder that is required for the basic validation of the MOOC. They will be able to obtain 3 ECTS credits provided by ULB.

Main topics addressed

  • understanding and evaluation of social, environmental, ecological, and psychological systemic interactions adversely affecting the health and well-being of people living, working, and visiting cities;
  • building capacity to view urban health as a complex system, with multi-dimensional and multi-scale eco-systemic frameworks;
  • identification & mobilization of all the actors directly or indirectly linked to urban health, in designing resilient and sustainable healthy cities.

Learning outcomes

The deep learning of each level of complex knowledge during the MOOC (virtual component 1) will allow students to better interact in the face-to-face training (component 2), consolidating the following skills:

  • acquiring a better knowledge of other domains;
  • valorize their own skills in an interdisciplinary community;
  • adopting common knowledge of complex urban systems and their different stages of implementation;
  • manipulate various concrete tools to approach urban health complex systems with a group of actors;
  • be familiar with participatory approaches.
Dates: 16 February - 3 July 2026 Total workload: 87 hours
Format: Blended ECTS: 3*
Location: Brussels, Belgium Language: English (B2)
Contact: openlab@ulb.be  

*recognition of ECTS depends on your home university

Physical mobility

The physical mobility section of the BIP will take place 29 June - 3 July 2026, in Brussels, Belgium. It will be a workshop on impact and mitigation of the effect of heatwaves in Brussels, giving students the opportunity to put their knowledge and skills into practice in a real-life case study, but in a secure environment thanks to the supervision of the students and work with a partner municipality in the OpenLab. Students will be confronted with the realities of a field that is representative, in an interdisciplinary and multicultural context, and in a context of multi-level governance. 

One of the Brussels municipalities will be the subject of the case study. The identification of the issues to be addressed and the evaluation of the solutions devised by the students will be carried out in close collaboration with representatives of the local authorities, who will be involved in both the virtual programme (to share some of the questions they have about heatwaves) and the face-to-face part (joint field visits, joint working sessions).

  • Day 1: Exploring and understanding heat and fresh spots in Brussels (output: a synthetic view on issue of heat for local authorities): commented walk in the municipality and meeting of actors + synthesis mind mapping work by student.
  • Day 2: Systemic Approach to Heat Waves Impact in Brussels (output: list of problems to solve): Mobilizing academic and local experts on Heat Waves mobilized, student will identify and prioritise the issues to be dealt with by local authorities.
  • Day 3 AM: Improving quality of life during heat waves (output: exploration of adaptation paths) knownledge driven ideation process framed by theoretical and practical inputs by academics and OpenLab staff.
  • Day 3 PM: From path to action (output: targeted action in the municipality's areas of competence) with the support of academics and OpenLab staf students build concrete proposals for the municipality.
  • Day 4: Implementation strategy test: reviewing by expert jury (AM) + revising proposals by students (PM).
  • Day 5 AM: Communication of the proposals (output: proposal pitch for stakeholders): based on the framework provided by teachers and openLab Staff, student set up targeted communication with stakeholders, enabling their proposals to be debated.
  • Day 5 PM: Presentation to the stakeholders.

Virtual part

The virtual component of the course will be held from 16 February until 15 June 2026. Students from the different CIVIS universities will form a cohesive group during their attendance at the MOOC as a “private group” registration on COURSERA. They will follow the two first parts of the MOOC concerning 4 modules:

PART I: Concepts and Observation (https://www.coursera.org/learn/urban-health-mooc-1)

  • Module 1: A multidisciplinary framework
  • Module 2: Observing, measuring, and representing

PART II: Theories and Models (https://www.coursera.org/learn/healthy-urban-systems-2/)

  • Module 3: Theoretical frameworks
  • Module 4: Tools for modeling

During the 8 online weeks, the MOOC will provide personal and collective exercises. Students will cooperate in the collective activities of the MOOC (group discussions, collective exercises, peer reviewing) on the dedicated online platform.

In addition of the four MOOC modules, documents and data will be provided on the Brussels area in order to train the students on “real data” and to connect them with case study municipality’s concern. BIP dedicated exercices assessments during this online course will concern one Brussels municipality. Therefore, the students will begin to be familiar with the area and will begin to work together online already creating some collective dynamics.

Students will follow freely the courses of the MOOC.

Besides, 3 online sessions organized :

  • Monday, 16th of February 2026, morning: online introduction to explain the work and give access to the Moodle platform with the documents on Brussels;
  • Monday, 13th of April 2026, morning: midterm meeting for a discussion on the knowledge of the 2 first modules (part 1: modules 1 and 2);
  • Monday, 15th of June 2026, morning: final online meeting for a discussion on the knowledge of the 2 following modules (part 2: modules 3 and 4) + explanation of the physical session in July in Brussels (scientific schedule and practical information). 

Assessment

During the online course, the sum of exercises will make a folder that the students will present at the end of the virtual component.

The personal implication and contribution of the participants will be evaluated during the physical week (and with the background of their online work on the MOOC), leading to the validation of the BIP.

During the face-to-face meeting, they will work in groups with complementary topics. They will produce a group proposal that wil be evaluated (output & process to build the output).

They will also prepare during the face-to-face training an individual document: a story map or a video to communicate their experience of the BIP. We will put them online to testify about the experience of the BIP. They will work on it every day (1/2 hour at the end of the day).

The programme is open to Master and PhD' students at CIVIS member universities, with a high interest in social sciences, engineering, medicine and/ or environment.  

Participants should have a good level of written and spoken English (B2), but also skills such as system thinking and building, combining heterogeneous data, digital analysis tools, participatory approaches and policy building and assessment.

Desirable skills: active participation, respectful interactions, Systemic comprehension of urban health issues (multiple domains, feedback loops, emergence…), modeling abilities, rigorous systemic approach, creative inputs, balanced judgment between desirable and possible actions.

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) - a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe.

NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility

To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme.

This course is also open to students with the same academic profile, who are enrolled at a CIVIS strategic partner university in Africa. Please check here, if you can apply and this particular course is open to applications from your university. Successful applicants will receive an Erasmus+ grant covering travel and subsistence costs during their stay. Applicants should be willing to extend their stay at the host university for 1-3 weeks for additional research and/or training purposes.

Partner universities:

  • Aix-Marseille Université (France)
  • Université Libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
  • University of Salzburg (Austria)
  • Université de Lausanne (Switzerland)
  • Makerere University (Uganda)

Professors

  • Céline Rozenblat (coordinator online part) - prof. in Urban Geography, University of Lausanne, specialized in multi-level complex urban systems
  • Benjamin Wayens (coordinator face-to-face part), lecturer and research logistician, Université libre de Bruxelles
  • Martin Loidl, Head of Mobility Lab - Paris Lodron University of Salzburg
  • Thomas Fasquelle, assistant professor, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut Universitaire des Systèmes Thermiques Industriels (IUSTI)
  • Sébastien Gadal, prof. in Spatial analysis, Aix-Marseille Université. UMR CNRS ESPACE
  • Paul Mukwaya, prof. GIS Centre, Makerere University
  • Robin Lebrun, research logistician, Université libre de Bruxelles, OpenLab
  • Christèle Aubry, project coordinator, University of Lausanne, Open Lab CIVIS

 

 

Send your application by filling in the online application form by 30 October 2025, and also including:

  • CV
  • Motivation letter

All applications will be evaluated based on academic or professional background, openness to inter- and transdisciplinary approaches, curiosity about system approaches, and consistency with personal projects and career planning.

Apply now

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