Master in Polismaker: Value Manager for Quality of Life in Sustainable Urban Development

The master trains Value Managers, figures able to coordinate participatory processes and to guide the strategic management of urban development in order to improve quality of life. The curriculum is interdisciplinary and includes engineering, urban planning, economics, law and social sciences, with a focus on the urban policies of the United Nations and UNECE, on economic and financial assessment tools and on the management of urban regeneration projects. The proposal is based on the idea that choices about urban interventions require assessing the value generated for communities, and not only the economic return. The Value Manager is a figure who helps public bodies, companies and communities decide how to transform an urban area so as to generate shared value, and not only economic value. The master teaches how to read the needs of the different players, to mediate between different interests and to use assessment methods that consider economic, social and environmental aspects together.

The master lasts 12 months and is organised in blended mode, with in-person attendance in Milan and online, and includes 120 hours of workshops. Teaching alternates theoretical lessons and practical workshops, and includes an individual project that serves as the professional test bed. According to the calendar given, the application deadline was May 4, 2026 and lessons started on May 15, 2026, dates that have already passed. Admission is with a master's or specialist degree, or an equivalent qualification, and the target audience includes master's graduates in related disciplines, public officials, managers and urban development professionals. The page does not state the credits, the number of places, the details of the curriculum or the cost. The interdisciplinary nature of the programme is a distinguishing feature: engineers, urban planners, economists, lawyers and social scientists each contribute with their own language, and students learn to make them talk to each other. The reference to the urban policies of the United Nations and UNECE offers an international framework of principles and good practices on quality of life and sustainable living.

The aim is to prepare students for leadership roles in the public and private sectors, with emphasis on economic and financial assessment tools and on the management of urban regeneration projects. Related professions include urban planner, urban development consultant, sustainability expert and public policy designer. The master is suited to those who wish to develop a profile able to hold together technical, economic and participatory aspects, in a context in which quality of life is increasingly tied to complex transformation processes. The 120 hours of workshops are the moment when the work becomes concrete: participants tackle case studies, simulate participatory processes and apply the assessment tools. The programme is aimed at graduates who work or wish to work in local administrations, design firms, urban development companies and organisations dealing with regeneration and social cohesion.