Our Short Specialization Degree in Urban Security and Violence Management aims at providing the skills necessary for dealing with safety and violence in an urban setting by following a network approach based on the cooperation among citizens, institutions, associations, companies, and law enforcement.
The course refers to the contents of the Decree-Law No. 14 of February 20th, 2017, coordinated with the Conversion Law No. 48 of April 18th, 2017 concerning Urgent provisions for safety in cities, and stating that urban security here means “that branch of public safety aimed at preventing illegal activities concentrated in the municipal area, and dealing with safety in cities, orderly coexistence, environment, and quality of local life”.
Moreover, our Short Specialization Degree follows an idea of urban development in line with the United Nations SDG 11 of the 2030 Agenda, which invites countries to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.
The Short Specialization Degree in Urban Safety and Fighting Violence offers theoretical and operational training on the following topics:
- Prevention, analysis and management of events that negatively affect urban living
- Promotion of urban coexistence and of the fight against discrimination in communities
- Promotion of lawfulness
- Promotion of inclusion
- Protection of the territory and environmental safety
- Urban health, community well-being and life quality
- Fight against gender violence in public spaces
- Prevention, analysis and management of youth violence in the cities
- Offenders, victims and restorative justice
- Health safety in the cities
- Collective emergencies and alarms
Students will acquire knowledge on urban psychology, urban security design, construction and assessment, institution-citizen relationship management, work team leadership during emergencies, and recognizing the social need for security in a territory.
Our Short Specialization Degree in Urban Security and Violence Management is addressed to graduates in psychological, sociological, political, legal and pedagogical sciences; administrators of public bodies (mayors, town officials such as architects, engineers, social workers, tax advisors, registry officers, accountants) and private institutions, urban town safety service officers; local Police, civil servants and private investigators who wish to acquire and explore specific competences in the field of urban safety and the fight against violence.
The Master trains professional figures such as:
- Urban safety managers in public and private sectors
- Experts in conflict reduction and violence contrasting strategies in organizations and communities
- Experts in emergency and urban crisis management
- Experts in promoting a culture of lawfulness
- Experts in preventing violence in urban areas
- Experts in psycho-social design in urban areas
Our Short Specialization Degree in Urban Security and Violence Management allows students to experience an interdisciplinary approach diving into three scientific areas: Psychological Science, Legal Science, and Social/Political Science. Students will learn how to put into practice their theoretical knowledge, thanks to the teachings of our best professors and some of the most active and renowned professionals in the field. The lectures are organized with an innovative approach and according to an educational perspective based on concrete case studies and cases presented by the students themselves. Students will also learn how to work autonomously through the development of a project work, which will give them the chance to offer immediate solutions to current and rising issues.
The program is divided into 16 topics:
- Urban psychology and violence
- Prejudice, conflicts, and urban peace
- Fundamentals of leadership and decision-making processes within organizations and politics
- Gender and violence (victim and perpetrator, support networks)
- Risks and communication strategies
- Anthropology in diverse urban contexts: our fears in looking at the other
- Governance and coexistence in multiethnic districts (urban segregation and structural violence)
- Safety, mental health, social unrest
- Urban contexts and civil protection
- Environmental safety (climate change, disasters, protection of cities and citizens)
- Justice, criminology, victimology
- Criminal law and culture of legality (acquisitive crime and juvenile crimes)
- Law, social change, and organized crime (fight against mafia groups, ecomafia)
- Health security (Management of emergencies and conflicts)
- Terrorism, security, and defense
- Crisis management
At the end of the course, students will receive an Open Badge, a digital certificate stating their disciplinary knowledge, personal skills, and any acquired technical skills. Each Open Badge consists of a graphical element (a picture), and some specifications (metadata) which point to an acquired skill or competence, or an achieved goal, the method used to test it, who issued it, and the student’s identity. An Open Badge is guaranteed by the provider and it’s internationally recognized. The Badges are uploaded on a dedicated platform (https://bestr.it/organization/show/65), which uses an open-source format, and can be read by all applications that read Open Badge. Find out how to redeem your Open Badge and how to integrate it in your CV, or your professional social media account, here: https://www.unipd.it/open-badge
- Municipality of Padua
- ASSIV – Italian Association for Surveillance and Security Services
- AIPSA – Italian Association Business Security Professionals
- CIRSIM – Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca per gli Studi Interculturali e sulle Migrazioni (University of Padua)
- LIBERA – Associations, Names and Numbers against Mafia
- Laboratorio ANS di Ricerca multidisciplinare sulla qualità sociale, benessere, sviluppo umano
- Casa della Memoria (House of Memory) – Brescia
- Fondazione Banca Popolare Etica – Padua
- FIABA – Association for diversity, inclusion, and accessibility for a world without barriers
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The general ranking of merit for the academic year 2025/26 will be published on the Italian page of this Master according to the timing provided in the Call.
Information
FAQ
Teaching includes 210 hours spread over 18 weekends. Lessons will take place between November 2025 and September 2026, on Friday afternoons and on Saturdays. There are 90 additional hours to complete autonomously on Moodle. Attendance is mandatory for at least 70% of the total amount of hours and the course ends with a final project work.
Distance learning takes place on the Moodle platform of the University of Padua and includes several activities to be completed online in an asynchronous manner (e.g., debates among students, reading of additional material, discussions with teachers, exchange of tips concerning the project works).
No, it does not.
Yes, students who are absent for any reason can visit the Moodle platform dedicated to the course and watch the recorded video of any lesson they missed. There, they will also find the study material used by the teacher during the lesson (slideshows, articles, etc.).
It is an individual project on a topic of interest for the student, completed under the supervision of a professor or tutor. It is 50 page long, on average
Lessons will be carried out at the School of Psychology in Via Venezia 12, Padua. From the train station, the school is easily accessible by public transportation (5 minutes) or on foot (15 minutes). Students will receive information about any outdoor lessons once the course has started.
The lessons will be held at the Scuola di Psicologia, Via Venezia 12, Padua, easily reachable with public transportation from the railway station (5 minutes) or by foot (15 minutes). Outdoor lessons will also be held, as notified during the course