Online courses launched on data collection in urban metabolism

Metabolism of Cities is launching two new online courses, starting in the coming week. Both courses are the same, but one is taught in English and the other in Spanish. They are part of a new online course series that Metabolism of Cities is organising on "Data & Urban Metabolism". The series consists of three individual courses:



  1. Data Collection

  2. Data Processing

  3. Data Analysis


The first installment, the Data Collection course, will become available from this week onwards through the Metabolism of Cities Education Hub. This is an intensive, 5 week course that involves two online teaching sessions per week, followed by a heavy homework load that consists of putting in practice what is covered in class. The actual lessons are all available online as recorded videos within the new online course structure that has recently been launched. The live sessions will primarily serve to recap the material, to review the homework exercises, and to discuss difficulties and questions with the students.


The English course will be launched with a select group of invited participants. The Spanish course will be opened up for a wider audience, and interested parties can apply online.


By participating in this course, students will learn the foundations of engaging in urban metabolism research: the data collection process. The course follows a "learn while doing" concept, in which students receive instructions about the type of data and information that is required to unpack the urban metabolism in a city, which is then put into practice. Students will collect data throughout the course on the city of their choice. The data can be uploaded into the Metabolism of Cities Data Hub, and training on how to do this will also be provided. In doing so, participants will learn new data collection and management skills, while also contributing to the availability of centralised and open data on urban metabolism.


Registration for the Spanish course is open until August 10. The course will run from August 13 until September 17, with classes taking place on Mondays and Thursdays.


The courses are offered free of charge and all course material is made available under a Creative Commons (CC 4.0. BY) license, much like most of the other content produced at Metabolism of Cities. Interested participants who are unable to join this cohort can also take the course online at their own pace. Instruction material will be made available weekly, as the course progresses.