Academic staff
Human Geography: Urban Geography (MSc)
The Master’s track in Human Geography: Urban Geography is organised by the Graduate School of Social Sciences of the University of Amsterdam.
The academic staff of this programme is actively involved in research; most of them at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) of the University of Amsterdam.
Fenne Pinkster
Fenne Pinkster is assistant professor at the department of Geography, Planning and International Development and specialises in the field of Urban Geography.
Research and teaching interests
Her interests lie in what she calls the geography of everyday life in cities, taking resident perspectives and experiences as a starting point. Her research focuses on the meaning of neighborhoods for structuring the lives of residents and the way in which their lives become embedded in the neighborhood they live (or not).
"What I like about Urban Geography, is the fact that you can bike through the city and see how processes that you read about in the academic literature take shape in the real world and can be experienced on a daily basis. We always try to incorporate this dimension of urban geography into our study programme."
Lecturers
Other lecturers in this track are:
- Dr Wouter van Gent
- Dr Lia Karsten
- Prof. Sako Musterd
- Prof. Jan Nijman
- Dr Karin Pfeffer
- Dr Hebe Verrest
- Dr Aslan Zorlu
Study Advisor/ Programme Coordinator
Jeroen van Pelt is Study Adviser of Human Geography.
"Urban Geography in Amsterdam is characterised by a strong focus on people living in the city, which makes it a truly Social Science programme. Studying Urban Geography at the UvA means studying in the vibrant city of Amsterdam, which provides students with many opportunities to see, experience and explore urban geographical themes and processes themes ‘on the ground’.
Academic staff members include Prof. Sako Musterd, Prof. Jan Nijman, Dr Lia Karsten, Dr Fenne Pinkster and Dr Hebe Verrest. Some of the courses for Urban Geography are offered jointly with the other tracks of Human Geography: Economic, Environmental and Political Geography. However, most of the education takes place in small groups. This leads to small-scale research communities in which staff and students work closely together in a less formal and more open environment. This personal way of teaching contributes to the high rates of graduation within a year (80%)."