Politecnico di Milano degree
1st / 2nd level Master’s degree program
Vision · Skills · Community
Why choose PolisMaker
A Politecnico di Milano program blending human-centered culture, technical tools and Value Management to design cities and territories with high quality of living.
A Master for those who want to transform places with method and responsibility
PolisMaker trains professionals who can read urban and territorial complexity and turn it into value-driven decisions and projects. It is not just a curriculum, but a culture of action: human-centered, interdisciplinary and impact-oriented.
The program integrates Value Management, Urban Planning, Economics, Law, Smart City, Art & Design, Environmental Psychology and Communication. Areas and modules are designed to dialogue and converge into real workshops and project work.
A high-return professional investment
Interdisciplinary areas
6 integrated areas
On-the-field workshops
Italy + abroad
Internship & project work
with institutions and companies
60 ECTS · Executive
Compatible with working life
Applied learning
Annual workshop on real development projects
Placement
Around 90% within 12 months
Professional credits
30 engineers · 20 architects*
Experience
Since 2004 (20+ years)
UNI 11915:2023
Value Manager (Specialist/Advanced)
International recognition
Qualified technician in Ticino (LST)
Note: a stable share of graduates finds, consolidates or improves a role aligned with the programme within 12 months of completion.
*Credits are subject to professional bodies’ rules.
In one word: what stays with you
In alumni open-ended answers, a set of recurring keywords emerges consistently: they capture what stays with participants and the themes they perceive as most distinctive.
Well-being
City
Future
Multidisciplinarity
Interdisciplinary education
Culture
Holistic
Improvement
People
Qualitative insights collected via internal surveys.
From Alumni surveys: what consistently stands out
Qualitative feedback from participants highlights recurring themes: real interdisciplinarity, decision-making tools for complexity, field experience and community.
True interdisciplinarity, not siloed learning
Alumni describe a shift: from domain expertise to the ability to connect disciplines, stakeholders and goals.
“Culture today must be a set of connections…”
Tools to decide in complexity
A recurring theme is that the quality of choice comes from comparing alternatives and trade-offs.
“I learned how to turn intuition into argued decisions.”
Field experience and teamwork
Most remembered moments include workshops, public sessions, simulations and collaborative work.
“Group collaboration… workshops… simulations…”
Community and international networking
The network of people and exchange across backgrounds is among the most cited outcomes.
“Meeting people from other parts of the world…”
Qualitative insights from internal surveys; limited sample, consistent patterns.
Five strong reasons
PolisMaking + Value Management method
You learn to define needs, objectives and scenarios, assess alternatives and support decisions with transparent life-cycle criteria.
True interdisciplinarity
Disciplines are not parallel: they work together on cases and projects, preparing you for coordination roles.
International outlook
Faculty and partners active in global networks (smart city, sustainability, cooperation). Real opportunities abroad.
Real cases, real work
Labs and workshops deal with authentic contexts: cities, inner areas, cultural heritage, digital transition.
Community & networking
You join a professional community that continues beyond the Master through collaborations and opportunities.
History, identity and recognition of the Master PolisMaker
For more than twenty years, the Master PolisMaker has worked on sustainability, quality of living and responsible urban transformations. Starting from real contexts and concrete projects, the team – composed of faculty, researchers and professionals from different disciplines – has developed a key competence: reading territories, interpreting weak signals and turning them into teaching content, anticipating topics that would only later become central in national and international debates.
The Master was originally created within the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana by a group of scholars from different backgrounds, committed to building a new way of thinking about cities, one that could bring together cultural roots, identity of places and innovation. It later became embedded within Politecnico di Milano, also thanks to recognition in the Interreg Italy–Switzerland programme, which led to a joint diploma with international universities and structured academic activities between Como and Canton Ticino.
Over the years, the Master has been hosted in venues such as Villa Olmo, Politecnico di Como, and later at Consorzio CISE and the Pesenti School — the oldest post-graduate school of Politecnico. Today it is fully part of the ecosystem of Politecnico di Milano, one of the world’s top universities in major international rankings for Architecture, Engineering and Design.
Who is the PolisMaker
The PolisMaker is an interdisciplinary professional able to read territories, engage with different stakeholders and build sustainable development scenarios. They act as a facilitator of decisions and an urban “strategist”, bringing together technical, economic, social and cultural competences, with special attention to quality of living and international urban policies (UN/UNECE). As defined by the founder of the Master, Prof. Angelo Caruso di Spaccaforno, it is “a new and emerging professional figure in the Italian and international job market”.
Who PolisMaker is for
Different backgrounds, one shared project culture.
Design & technical professionals
Architects, engineers, planners, surveyors: a method for robust, sustainable decisions.
Public administrations
Officials, managers, policy makers: tools to plan and govern integrated transformations.
Companies & consulting
Real estate, utilities, engineering and advisory firms: value, PPP, finance and impacts.
Third sector & cooperation
NGOs and foundations: capacity to work with territories through participatory, QoL-driven approaches.
What you will be able to do
- Run multi-dimensional context analyses (economic, social, environmental, cultural).
- Set up Value Management processes for urban and territorial projects.
- Build scenarios and compare alternatives with appraisal and multi-criteria tools.
- Manage stakeholder tables, conflicts and participatory processes.
- Integrate digital tools (CIM, digital twin, urban data) into decisions.
- Communicate complex projects clearly to decision-makers and communities.
Flexible yet rigorous learning
On-campus classes at Campus Leonardo and online (synchronous + asynchronous). Materials and recordings in the student area. Continuous tutoring for project work and workshops.
Schedule for working professionals
Compact modules designed to fit professional life.
Access to recordings
You can always catch up and review.
Field experiences
Visits, labs and workshops with public presentations.
Added value of the program
Three elements particularly characterize the learning experience of the Master PolisMaker and represent its added value for participants:
Experiential and active learning
Teaching alternates theoretical framing and transfer of models and tools with moments of sharing, discussion and hands-on application in real projects proposed by faculty or participants. Learners are the main actors, supported and guided by professors and practitioners.
Networking and professional relations
Numerous networking opportunities – sometimes hosted by international institutions – support the creation of solid professional relations, essential for high-quality learning and for identifying future career paths.
Field experiences and self-awareness
Different field experiences increase self-awareness, foster self-management and relational skills, and make the PolisMaker professional truly effective and impactful in the contexts where they operate.
What you take with you: tools, vision, and the ability to work together
Recurring themes in open-ended responses converge on three concrete outcomes.
- More tools and criteria to address complex issues and evaluate alternatives.
- A broader, holistic way of reasoning and designing that integrates technical, economic and social dimensions.
- Greater relational openness and teamwork to manage stakeholder tables, conflicts and participatory processes.
Built environment · Economics and strategy · Human sciences
Qualitative responses also show a clear signal: interests do not concentrate on a single area but are balanced across areas. This matters: PolisMaker speaks to different profiles and builds operational connections among competences that must collaborate every day in real work.
What participants say
From open-ended responses
“I learned how to turn intuitions into well-argued decisions.”
“A more confident way of addressing complex problems in full.”
“In how I design my interventions, and with broader, deeper knowledge.”
“I may not be a swimming champion, but I can stay afloat without a life jacket.”
“You don’t swim alone: Polis-maker for me is a group… like a real team.”
“Being a Polis-Maker feels absolutely concrete. I can’t imagine a future without Polis-Maker.”
Master PolisMaker
Want to see if it fits your goals?
Explore the curriculum and calendar, then contact us: we’ll help you understand how PolisMaker matches your profile.
