Within the course the students will be presented with various theoretical and methodological approaches to contemporary research of urban environment, as well as with different manners in which emerging technologies may affect future urban processes – ranging from analysis to design. The main goal of this course is to examine modern cities as complex social and spatial systems, in which the designing and planning activities are becoming more reliant on advanced technologies of various kinds from the aspects of theory, methodology and practice.

The students who successfully fulfill their responsibilities will be equipped with skills of analytical and critical thinking, enabling them to thoroughly analyze urban transformations through contemporary urban processes that cause them. In addition to gaining knowledge on new methods and technologies in urban planning, students will also acquire the ability to predict various manners of their use in managing the processes of urban development.

- Transformation processes of modern cities on a global scale; - Urban question and the new concepts; - Contemporary urban planning theories; - Specific issues and processes in the development of cities of today - a critical analysis; - Methodology of urban planning; - Urban growth management; - Digital technologies – use for analytical purposes; - Use of emerging technologies in the design and planning processes - adapting to the context; - Smart Cities and "digital intelligence" of cities; - Use of modern technologies - case studies; - Visions of city development in the future.

Method of critical analysis; illustrative-demonstrative methods; methods of synthesis of acquired knowledge; interaction between participants in the learning process.