Co-Creating Sustainable Cities

Co-Creating Sustainable Cities, offered by DelftX through edX, is an online course designed to examine how citizens, governments, companies, NGOs, and researchers can work together to build more sustainable cities. The course starts from the idea that major global challenges such as population growth and climate change are increasingly being addressed in urban settings, where sustainability depends on the interplay between technology, policy, and everyday life. It uses cities such as Amsterdam, Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City, Nairobi, Kampala, and Suzhou as living labs for exploring how co-creation can support urban sustainability.

Core Content

The curriculum is structured around co-creation in urban contexts and combines background theory with city-based sustainability themes. TU Delft OpenCourseWare shows modules on background knowledge for co-creating sustainable cities, water and wastewater, air quality, smart energy and mobility, urban food and green space, urban water, and the dynamics of co-creation. This structure helps learners understand how citizen participation and collaborative governance shape sustainable urban innovation across different sectors and city challenges.

Key Skills

Participants will develop the ability to understand co-creation as a sustainability approach, assess how citizens influence and are influenced by urban systems, and interpret how technology, policy, and daily life interact in cities. The course also helps learners build a stronger understanding of stakeholder participation, living labs, urban sustainability challenges, and collaborative forms of problem-solving in metropolitan contexts.

Target Learners

This course is designed for learners interested in sustainable cities, urban governance, citizen participation, and collaborative innovation. It is particularly relevant for students, urban practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and general learners who want to understand how sustainability transitions happen in real cities through the combined efforts of different actors. Its broad urban focus makes it suitable for those seeking an interdisciplinary introduction rather than a narrowly technical city-planning course.

Learning Format

Hosted through edX and TU Delft Learning for Life, the course is delivered in a self-paced online format. TU Delft’s course listings show an estimated study effort of six to eight hours per week, and the OpenCourseWare structure indicates a multi-module format with lectures and city-based case material. The course is also listed as free on TU Delft Learning for Life, which supports flexible access for independent learners.

Additional Benefits

The course offers practical value for learners who want to understand urban sustainability through real examples of citizen participation and co-creation rather than through theory alone. Its use of multiple international cities as living labs gives the learning a comparative perspective, while TU Delft’s OpenCourseWare materials add depth for learners who want to explore the course topics further. This makes it especially useful for those interested in participatory urban transformation and sustainability in practice.

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