Academic staff
Sociology: Urban Sociology (MSc)
Urban Sociology is organised by the Graduate School of Social Sciences of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Amsterdam.
The academic staff of this programme is actively involved in research most of them at UvA's Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research (AISSR).
Walter Nicholls
Walter Nicholls is the Track Coordinator of Urban Sociology.
Dr. Walter Nicholls is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Amsterdam and completed his Ph.D. in Urban Planning from UCLA (2004). His research has focused primarily on the economic and political forces that produce class and ethnic inequalities in globalizing cities and the methods employed by working class people to resist these exclusionary forces. While studying resistance movements in Los Angeles, Toulouse, and Paris, he has worked to develop a theory that explains for the role of cities in national social movements and how certain cities become more prominent than others. He is also interested in the general spatial architectures of national and transnational social movements. More recently, he has been studying how undocumented immigrants forge powerful and compelling political voices in hostile political fields. This research is largely based on a comparative study of immigrant rights movements in the United States and France.
Justus Uitermark
‘Cities are social microcosms where we can observe various societal developments directly in all their intensity. Cities are focal points for cultural, economic, and political innovations. They are sites where power is exercised and where power is challenged. The UvA has a strong tradition in urban research. For instance, there is the Center for Urban Studies, which is one of the foremost institutions of its kind. Amsterdam is a fantastic place in which to live and carry out research. Students have the opportunity to experience their research in their daily life.'
'In my opinion, Urban Sociology students at the UvA learn to rise above trivial observations and to be reflexive and critical. Additionally, we look at the city of Amsterdam in an international perspective. The staff of Urban Sociology is mostly international, and even though Amsterdam is our home base, we have a distinctly global outlook.’
Other lecturers
Below is a list of other lecturers in this programme. Click the name of a lecturer for more information (if available).