About the School

Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism (GSU) is a learning and research division of the Faculty of Urban and Regional Development of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. Founded in 2011, the School takes a multidisciplinary approach towards studying and planning modern cities, using the excellent foundation that one of Russia’s top universities has formed in the humanities and socioeconomics. The School’s mission is to create a centre in Russia for learning and research in urban studies and urban planning. It is envisioned that this centre will respond to the needs of the 21st century city and the corresponding era of megacities that are home to tens of millions of people with diverse interests and aspirations. These are cities where sources of information grow and the space for civil, creative, and economic opportunities expands. From 2016 the School is officially named in honor of its first dean and one of the founders — Alexander Vysokovsky (1948-2014).

As of the beginning of 2020, the Graduate School of Urbanism has launched three graduate-level courses in city planning (including the Master’s Programme 'Urban Development and Spatial Planning'), participated in dozens of research and planning projects at the regional and federal level, and carried out research and consulting work at its laboratories.

Objectives of the Graduate School of Urbanism:

To carry out research and consulting work on relevant issues in the functioning and development of cities and urban communities, including the management of urban spatial development;
To carry out research needed to develop documentation for spatial planning, zoning, and planning design, and to develop strategies for both research and contract-based consulting and design work;
To train specialists in the field of spatial planning and city zoning, and to conduct research on cities and urban communities;
To develop, organise, and execute core undergraduate- and graduate-level programmes in the field of urban planning, and to also set new standards of higher education with regard to the functioning and development of cities and urban communities, including the management of urban spatial development;
To set up student and teacher internships and training at leading foreign universities in the fields of urban planning and urban studies, and to invite international professors, lecturers, and speakers to the HSE;
To organise and carry out joint research projects with foreign universities and research organisations.