60 416 Digital cities and platform urbanism (Spring 2026)

Facts about the course

ECTS Credits:
6
Responsible department:
Institutt for urbanisme og landskap
Course Leaders:
  • Jonny Aspen
  • Einar Sneve Martinussen
Lecture Semester:
Spring
Teaching language:
English
Study level:
Second degree level
Duration:
½ year
Reading list (Leganto)

Admission requirements

Students must have passed foundation level courses (BA-level) at AHO or equivalent, 180 ECTS.

The course is connected to the following study programs

Course description

This is a course that explores the impact of digital technologies on cities and urban living. More specifically the aim is to examine 1) how digital platform services work and operate in urban settings, and 2) in what ways such developments affect urban public cultures and everyday living.

Today cities work both as an inspiration and a testing ground for a range of digital platform services, within fields such as transport, food and goods delivery, health care, home services, etc. This is a development that is commonly labelled platform urbanism. It is also a development that contributes to an ongoing digital reshaping of urban public cultures and everyday living. Due to rapid development, there’s a strong need to develop more specific knowledge about how urban cultures and social life is affected. This is the main topic of this course.

The course will consist of a series of fieldwork studies and exercises related to mapping digital service platforms and how they work, both in relation to its online and offline dimensions.

The theoretical component of the course will consist of readings on issues of platform urbanism, both understood as a technological phenomenon and as a more or less new system of urban services. Furthermore, we will look into the field of urban theory, as a background for discussing how digital platform technologies affect urban cultures and social life.

Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

The students will acquire theoretical and practical knowledge about the emerging world of platform urbanism, both as a technological and social feature.

Skills:

The students will acquire skills in a set of research tools for exploring platform urbanism, both along technological and social dimensions.

General competence:

The students will acquire competence on the technological, digital, and social dimensions of platform urbanism. This will prepare them for conducting an in-depth case study of their own (of theoretical or more practical kinds), which is to be presented in a final paper.

Teaching

The course will be organized as a combination of seminars (first part of the day), and individual / group work (second part of the day) focusing on readings and various field work assignments (both online and offline). The seminar sessions will consist of a series of lectures, discussion of (weekly) readings (in which students in turn are responsible for text presentation), and report on ongoing fieldwork assignments. In the last part of the semester the students will write a paper based on a self-defined study on digital cities and platform urbanism.

Examination

Mandatory activities:

In order to be assessed in this course, you must have the following mandatory activities approved:

1)    A presentation of a curriculum reading

2)    Completion of mapping assignment (group work)

3)    Attendance at a minimum of 80% of weekly seminars.

Rejected work requirements can be compensated by submitting a written report on the same subject as in the reading and/or mapping assignment.

Assessment:

Form of assessment: Project

Grouping:

Grading scale: Pass/fail

Description of the assessment: A final paper/essay (8–10 pages) on an optional theme within the overall topic of platform urbanism.

Last updated from FS (Felles studentsystem) Oct. 15, 2026 2:32:57 PM