The first graduate program of its kind in the United States, the two-year Master of Science in Design and Urban Ecologies explores the urban complex and its interconnections with political, social, economic, and environmental systems. Using world cities like New York as a laboratory and working in transdisciplinary teams, students design processes for urban transformation alongside and with — not for — the communities most affected by these processes.
Bringing together the academic strengths of Parsons and other schools and colleges of The New School, this studio-based program trains graduates to become agents of change, working with the communities and institutions that shape urban ecosystems. Guided by internationally recognized urbanists, designers, and activists, students confront urgent problems facing cities and develop new research methodologies, design frameworks, and critical practices, using the city as an urban laboratory.
The 60-credit Master of Science in Design and Urban Ecologies program radically reframes the study of cities and urban design methodologies. By combining research, fieldwork, and participatory action, students gain a broad understanding of the complex forces that influence urban growth and development. In accordance with The New School’s historic commitment to social justice and design, students develop and implement innovative strategic projects that bring about real, transformative urban change.
This studio-driven program is part of Parsons' School of Design Strategies (SDS), and shares a 12-credit core curriculum with the 36-credit, research-based MA Theories of Urban Practice program. Explore our blog to see what students, faculty, and alumni are doing in NYC and around the world.
You can request more information here: http://www.newschool.edu/m/parsons-urban?utm_source=find_a_masters&utm_medium=hyperlink_listing&utm_campaign=pm_parsons_grad&utm_term=design_urban_ecologies
Focus areas include community organizing, the solidarity economy, food systems, public space, housing, infrastructure, public transportation, nonprofit management, cultural development, environmental equity, and socially engaged art and technology. Graduates are prepared for careers in urban design; urban and regional planning; public and urban policy; social, cultural, and environmental enterprises; community organizing; research; nonprofit management; teaching; government administration; municipal and regional development; and consulting. The program also provides a foundation for those who wish to pursue doctoral studies at top universities around the world.
Graduates are prepared for careers in urban design; urban and regional planning; public and urban policy; social, cultural, and environmental enterprises; community organizing; research; nonprofit management; teaching; government administration; municipal and regional development; and consulting. The program also provides a foundation for those who wish to pursue doctoral studies at top universities around the world.
You can request more information on future opportunities here: http://www.newschool.edu/m/parsons-urban?utm_source=find_a_masters&utm_medium=hyperlink_listing&utm_campaign=pm_parsons_grad&utm_term=design_urban_ecologies
Urban Ecology is an emerging interdisciplinary field which seeks to understand and address crucial 21st century issues relating to both humans and nature in built environment settings. Course content is drawn from the principles of ecological science and the complex processes occurring in continually developing urban spaces.
Cities now house more than 50% of the global population and as such many now consider an ecological approach as fundamental to managing and developing urban environments. Urban futures require those involved in decision-making to incorporate planning and policy based processes, environmental, social and economic considerations, and an increasingly complex application of information technology to ensure the health of the organisms which live and adapt to the urban environment. This course will provide the kind of interdisciplinary learning required if you wish to enter into a career within the domains of urban planning and design, construction, architecture and environmental management.
Urban Ecology of Cities (architecture, culture, design)
Planning and Policies of Urban Environments
Urban Ecology of Cities (air, water, soil, climate)
Urban Ecology in Cities (flora, fauna)
Urban Energy Systems
Urban Futures and Information in the Built Environment
Architecture and Wellbeing
Research Methods for Ecologies of Cities
Ecologies of Cities Dissertation
This programme is characterised by a diverse range of teaching and learning activities ranging from lectures, seminars and tutorials to blended learning, use of the VLE and an array of audio-visually delivered material. This will be supplemented by field-visits to sites of importance, and a blend of theoretical and practical work both independently and in groups. Using real-life local and global examples, innovative teaching strategies will be employed.
The teaching staff come from a range of backgrounds bringing a multitude of expertise and experience to the classroom. You will have the opportunity to debate with academics and guest lecturers in a scholarly environment and help shape the acquisition of knowledge in this emerging subject area. This also includes continuous supervision on research proposal and dissertation modules.
Assessments will be varied and relevant to the multi-disciplinary nature of the course providing you with a diverse skillset to carry forward into your future career.
This MSc will provide you with a set of skills that can be applied to several career paths including in urban planning, environmental management, sustainable construction, architecture and urban design.
Additionally if you are a professional currently working within the above industries you will gain crucial understanding of urban ecology principles by completing this course, and will be able to apply this to your existing role, or use the skills developed to move into a more specific role in the industry (ie sustainability focused).
After completing this course you will be well placed to progress to doctoral level study in your field of interest.
This course has been extensively informed from industry collaboration between the university’s academics and industrial partners involved in construction, urban planning, ecology, energy, architecture and wellbeing. In addition to sessions led by practitioners from these industries, you will benefit from field visits which form part of a number of modules and real-world problem solving work developed for and by colleagues in industry. From the latter you will be given actual experience in how to address key issues when working within this subject area, and will have the chance to meet and network with key stakeholders.
The production, reproduction and transformation of urban space via socially, economically, and environmentally just methods presents a complex challenge for professionals. This MSc combines cultural, social, economic, political and spatial analysis to recalibrate the urban design project, presenting a holistic response in which informality and marginality are central features.
The programme will equip students with a political economy understanding of space; a comprehension of the needs, abilities, aspirations and forms of resistance of urban dwellers; the ability to respond with strategically co-ordinated proposals to leverage local abilities to meet local needs; and an ability to critically engage with the practice of urban design and architecture in developmental processes – particularly in the Global South.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.
The programme consists of three core modules (90 credits), either one or two optional modules (30 credits) and a development and planning dissertation (60 credits).
Core modules
Optional modules
Please note, the availability of some modules may be dependent on student numbers
Dissertation/report
All MSc students submit a 10,000-word report on a topic related to the main themes of the programme. The topic can be chosen to enhance career development or for its inherent interest.
Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through a combination of weekly lectures, seminar presentations, group exercises and workshops. The BUDD studio includes a fieldwork project in an urban reality of the Global South, developed in partnership with local organisations, networks of communities, slum dweller federations, universities and governments alike. Students are encouraged to explore different tools, concepts and ideas throughout the programme and test these during the field project. Assessment is through coursework, design work, written examinations and the 10,000-word report.
Further information on modules and degree structure is available on the department website: Building and Urban Design in Development MSc
The programme enables graduates to work in NGOs and local government – facilitating community organisations and households to improve their living conditions. Graduate destinations range from UK-based organisations in the public, private and community sectors, to governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations, which operate in a development capacity in the South. Recent graduates have also been employed by international NGOs and aid and development agencies and architectural and design practices. Some graduates return to their home countries and engage in urban design and architecture practice, teaching, or research of urban development there; others have successfully sought employment away from their own countries.
Recent career destinations for this degree
Careers data is taken from the ‘Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education’ survey undertaken by HESA looking at the destinations of UK and EU students in the 2013–2015 graduating cohorts six months after graduation.
The UCL Bartlett is the UK's largest multidisciplinary faculty of the built environment, bringing together dozens of scientific and professional specialisms required to research, understand, design, construct and operate the buildings and urban environments of the future.
The Development Planning Unit is an international centre concerned with promoting sustainable forms of development, understanding rapid urbanisation and encouraging innovation in the policy, planning and management responses to the economic, social and environmental development of cities and regions, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Its programmes are supported by international agencies as well as by national and provincial governments.
The Building and Urban Design in Development (BUDD) programme in particular reflects on the necessity of design practices to contribute to changing the mainstream paradigm of working with the urban poor, with communities and the city itself.
The Research Excellence Framework, or REF, is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. The 2014 REF was carried out by the UK's higher education funding bodies, and the results used to allocate research funding from 2015/16.
The following REF score was awarded to the department: Development Planning Unit
81% rated 4* (‘world-leading’) or 3* (‘internationally excellent’)
Learn more about the scope of UCL's research, and browse case studies, on our Research Impact website.
Biodiversity is threatened by climate change and other consequences of the growing human population. To solve this, and some of the other global challenges facing humanity, we need researchers with an in-depth understanding of ecosystems.
As an MRes Ecology and Environment student, you’ll work with leaders in the field. You’ll develop key research skills in our taught modules, while your extensive individual research project will give you practical experience of how organisms and environments interact, equipping you to address major environmental challenges.
Our MRes Ecology and Environment programme is uniquely research-focused. You’ll be assigned to a research supervisor on the basis of your particular research interests, and you’ll spend the year embedded within their research group, working alongside PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and academic staff who are at the forefront of their research field. You’ll conduct an extended research project over several months, with the aim of producing original work of publishable quality.
Our world-class research in Ecology and Environment spans topics including global change ecology, biodiversity science, tropical forest conservation, palaeoecology and palynology, urban ecology, environmental pollution, and agricultural ecology. We work on a very wide range of taxa including plants, birds, fish and insects, in temperate, tropical and arctic ecosystems in the terrestrial and marine realms. We employ approaches varying from controlled environment and field experiments, to mathematical modelling, and analysis of long-term data sets and palaeontological collections. And we work with farmers, industry, conservation agencies and government departments to develop new research projects into sustainability issues. You can find out more about the research we’re conducting in this area on our website.
In the taught component of your MRes degree you’ll learn about the most recent developments in the field of ecology and environment and discuss them with research leaders from the UK and around the world. You’ll gain advanced skills in experimental design, data analysis and presentation as you learn how to become a research leader yourself.
You’ll study the following core research-focused modules:
You’ll also study a series of modules designed to develop your topic-specific research skills:
You’ll be taught through working in a research laboratory or on a field-based research project, tutorials, discussion groups, attendance at seminars, and statistics and other workshops. Assessment includes, but is not limited to, a project report, literature review, critiques, short reports and essays and oral presentations including a viva.
Our MRes in Ecology and Environment will equip you with the skills you require for a career in research, and past students have successfully gone on to study for PhDs and great careers in industry and the environmental sector.
In addition to research skills, you’ll also develop transferable skills that are valued by a wide range of employers, and the University’s Careers Service will show you how to demonstrate this on CVs and in job applications. Once you graduate, the support doesn’t stop and you’ll continue to have access to the Careers Service for three years to help you find your perfect job.
To apply for this course, complete the University of Sheffield's postgraduate online application form.
Because of the research-intensive nature of our MRes degrees, we ask you to include with your application a short supporting statement which explains clearly how your interests and experience relate to the Ecology and Environment research we do in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, including which particular supervisors or research groups you would be most interested in working with. Visit our research pages to learn more about our expertise in Ecology and Environment research.
This document should be uploaded in PDF format with your application via our postgraduate online application form.
You can find more information about the application process on the University's postgraduate webpages.
You can find out about scholarships available to UK, EU and international students on the University of Sheffield’s web pages.
We run postgraduate open days and events throughout the year. Visit our website to book your place.
Upon completing the master’s programme in Urban Studies & Planning, you will be able to:
Upon completing the Master’s programme in Urban Studies & Planning, you will be able to:
Further information about the studies on the Master's programme website.
The Master's programme in Urban Studies and Planning is offered by the University of Helsinki (Faculty of Science, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Arts) and Aalto University (School of Arts Design and Architecture and School of Engineering).
The MA Theories of Urban Practice program is for students who wish to pursue advanced studies in urbanism or careers as urban researchers, designers, teachers, design critics, policy advisors, and leaders of nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and private design and development firms. Students explore design as a vehicle and a catalyst for bringing together government agencies, community-based groups, civic associations, and the nonprofit and private sectors in co-creating and transforming urban and ecological networks. They devise progressive collaboration techniques to empower communities developing socially and ecologically sustainable urban systems including food production and distribution, housing, green spaces, and educational infrastructure.
Recent master’s theses range from a graphic memoir of a Kuwaiti oil town, created to include populations left out of official histories, to a curriculum that engages secondary students in city revitalization through neighborhood-based experiential learning to an interactive exhibition employing interview-based research to promote broader notions of urban diversity.
The 36-credit Master of Arts in Theories of Urban Practice program offers an innovative path for students interested in the critical study of design practices in the context of cities, urban space, and urban ecosystems. The program focuses on design-driven spatial and ecological innovation in relation to social justice, inclusion, and co-production of urban space.
This research-driven program is part of Parsons' School of Design Strategies (SDS), and shares a 12-credit core curriculum with the 60-credit, studio-based MS Design and Urban Ecologies program. Explore our blog to learn more about the urban programs at Parsons and to see what students, faculty, and alumni are doing in NYC and around the world.
You can request more information here: http://www.newschool.edu/m/parsons-urban?utm_source=find_a_masters&utm_medium=hyperlink_listing&utm_campaign=pm_parsons_grad&utm_term=design_urban_ecologies
The program is housed in Parsons’ School of Design Strategies, an educational environment that fosters innovative thinking about and experimentation with the design of cities, services, and ecosystems. Accordingly, they can take a project-based studio in Parsons’ MS in Design and Urban Ecologies program, and have opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary projects offered throughout the university. Parsons is part of The New School, a pioneering university located in the heart of New York City that offers some of the nation’s best-respected programs in design, social sciences, liberal arts, performing arts, and management and policy.
Graduates pursue careers in urban design, city planning, government administration, nonprofit management, collaborative urbanism, teaching, research, and social enterprise. The program also prepares students to pursue doctoral studies at top universities around the world
You can request more information here: http://www.newschool.edu/m/parsons-urban?utm_source=find_a_masters&utm_medium=hyperlink_listing&utm_campaign=pm_parsons_grad&utm_term=design_urban_ecologies
This Master's programme focusing on "Architecture: Resilient and Sustainable Strategies" explores architecture from a research-by-designand design-by-research perspective. Students are educated and trained in a multicultural and international context. The programme combines an academic approach with creative- experimental approach. It is characterised by a fully-integrated design methodology, providing students with solid skills in the contemporary discipline of architectural design and research.
The Master of Architecture programme is organised at both of the faculty's campuses in Brussels and Ghent, though each campus offers a different orientation:
This is an initial Master's programme and can be followed on a full-time or part-time basis. The programme consists out of a minimum of four semesters.
The Faculty of Architecture takes its international dimension as the basis for its own quality assessment. It positions itself squarely within the international field of qualitative academic education. The faculty's international activities are extensive and diversified: student mobility and staff exchange on a European and intercontinental level, internationally oriented programmes for incoming students, international workshops and competitions, international research projects, international internships, development cooperation, etc.
The faculty continues to build on its tradition of academic integration of teaching and research to maintain and enhance its standard of quality and international standing.
The faculty works hard to consolidate and enrich its network of cooperative associations with professionals and universities all over the world and strives to leverage this international network for students' benefit. Its international dimension is a strong catalyst for creativity and an added value to students' future professional career.
"The intended academic quality, is the core of the program (architecture, urban planning), i.e. academically based 'professionalism'.
The broadening of the profile focuses on basic disciplines (architecture and urban planning), however without compromising the appropriate focus on the professional profile of the architect (in multiple forms).
In the profile of master, one should obtain extreme concentration and specificity (however, no specialisation).
On the one hand, the master focuses on the content and area-specific level of the bachelor phase, and on the other hand on the acquirement of access to the professional or doctoral field (advanced masters, PhD,...).
The core competences of the master are:
The master program should guarantee the acquirement of scientific depth. The offered frontier disciplines focus on the current state of research and development within the competence field. The technical qualification to be acquired, focuses on the high quality problem solving of complex tasks.
At our campus in Ghent, the International Master of Science in Architecture is concerned with the current theory and practice of architecture and sustainability.
The Brundtland report (United Nations, 1987) defines sustainable development as 'development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'. The United Nations in 2005 referred to the 'interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars' of sustainable development as economic development, social development and environmental protection.
Translating these three pillars for sustainable architecture, they would entail: providing access to high quality and healthy living and working environments for all, finding ways to create socially sustainable environments at different scales and a wise use of natural resources. Technical considerations, together with more conceptual or strategic issues, are dealt with in this two-year program about architecture and sustainability.
Central in the program of the International Master of Science in Architecture is a critical reflection about architecture and its social, cultural or environmental role for society.
Based on a highly interdisciplinary learning process of integrated research and 'research by design', students are expected to determine a theoretical stance on current issues with particular emphasis on how aspects of sustainability, universal design, urban ecology and energy-efficient technologies may contribute to the development of more sustainable human settlements.
Apart from the theoretical courses, the program includes 3 design studios (during one semester) and 1 final master dissertation studio (during one year). Each semester, there is a focus on a specific attitude, related to the main theme of the programme. All studios are organised through a pool of studio groups (Academic Design Offices and Design Studios) where the teaching staff provides a series of specific themes, methods and intervention areas for the students to develop an architectural project:
Themes sem 1
Themes sem 2 (specific focus on the city of Ghent)
Themes sem 3
Themes sem 4
Graduates are trained to lead multidisciplinary teams of engineers, interior architects, landscape architects and artists. In addition to working as independent (self-employed) architects, our graduates also work as professionals in government agencies and international design firms. Some graduates go on to roles as researchers serving local or international governance bodies, NGO's or other institutes.
This course will provide you with a critical understanding of the relationship between architecture and ecology. You'll look at both from a theoretical perspective. This will be done by instructional modules taken at Strathclyde in Glasgow during the first three months of study. The practical demonstration of this relationship will be through project work at the urban laboratory Arcosanti in Arizona.
The Cosanti Foundation, established by Dr Paolo Soleri in 1964, is an education-based architecture and urban design not-for-profit organisation located in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. The Foundation established the world-renowned Arcosanti project in 1970 as an urban laboratory focused on researching alternatives to urban sprawl, based on Soleri's work on ecological architecture, and his proposals for the design of future cities.
This is a unique opportunity to study your Master’s degree while living and working at Arcosanti, helping to research, design and construct an alternative to urban sprawl, joining thousands of people who, since Arcosanti’s launch in 1970, have already been part of “one of the most important urban experiments in our lifetime” (Newsweek).
You'll work and study at the urban laboratory of Arcosanti in Arizona for three months, with the option to remain there for a further three months to complete an individual project.
This course is delivered in collaboration with The Cosanti Foundation who have over 40 years’ experience teaching architecture and ecology. Foundation staff will deliver the Arcology instructional module and oversee the group projects. You can also be involved with Arizona State University and the ECOSA Institute. Both are based in Arizona and have extensive experience in teaching architecture and ecology specific to the Arizona climate.
We're a modern university with great support for students including a large campus library and IT facilities. The Department of Architecture also has an on-site library with an extensive collection of architecture and urban design books and journals. You'll also be provided with individual desk space within a postgraduate research hub with access to printing facilities.
When at Arcosanti, you'll have room and board in addition to a dedicated working space equipped with printing and scanning facilities and site-wide Wi-Fi.
Find out more about the full range of facilities we have on offer.
Throughout Semester 1, you'll have lectures by a number of experts in the fields of architecture and ecology, covering both theory and practice.
Drawing on the expertise of our biogeography and ecology research group, this MRes programme advances your academic standing and enables you to conduct an original ecological research project.
It prepares you either for a PhD or for industry-based work, as you gain experience with a host of modern research methods and build on your theoretical knowledge of the subject area.
The research interests of our department include:
The Ecology MRes is typically completed as a full-time, one-year degree. It largely consists of core modules, but also allows you to choose from a host of optional modules as part of the 180-credit MSc requirement. If you choose to opt out of the course early, you can qualify for a PGCert with 60 credits and a PGDip with 120 credits.
The research project is central to the course and allows you to work at the forefront of the discipline as you advance your knowledge of research methods and ecological principles. You design your own project under the supervision of one or more members of the Biogeography and Ecology Research Group.
Modules
Options:
Examples of past projects include:
Graduates from this course are thoroughly equipped to enter a PhD programme in ecological science, as well as careers in industry and the public sector. The MRes provides well-rounded and practical training, plus the necessary transferable skills to prepare you for employment.
The Master in Conservation Biology, with specialization in Behavioural Ecology and Wildlife Management, aims at providing a critical and conceptually-based understanding of animal behaviour and evolutionary ecology, in the framework of conservation biology and wildlife management. This two-year master program consists in both lessons and fieldtrips, while half of the second year is devoted to a personal research project conducted by students in an international research team.
OUR MASTER PROGRAM
The Master program has a two-year span, with most of the courses taught in english. Our teaching philosophy is based on the idea that biodiversity conservation must be grounded in a multi-level knowledge approach, mixing key disciplines in ecology and evolution with recent technical advances in the fields of biometry, molecular ecology and management tools. The teaching content is rooted in our established strengths in behavioural ecology, evolutionary biology, conservation biology, quantitative ecology and research design. The master program is enriched by input from professional conservationists and managers, to put courses in the broader context of project management and decision-making policies.
The specific teaching objectives aim at developing and improving students’ skills to:
Half of the second year is devoted to conducting a personal research project and writing a thesis of 12,000 words. Research projects are conducted within an international team previously selected by the students, and led with the support of an expert supervisor.
TEACHING & FIELDTRIPS
Teaching consists of lectures, seminars by international researchers, class tutorials and practical training in the laboratory and in the field, providing in-depth exploration of key issues. Our teaching philosophy is to stimulate balanced and evidence-based discussions and debates between academic staff and students. Such interactions provide efficient training to identify and explore theory, methods and practice in an academic environment.
Field courses allow students to apply the methods and ideas developed in the classroom to practical use in the field. Each year, you will attend at least one week-long fieldtrip, and several one-day field sessions. The "Camargue field course" provides the opportunity to work on a model species for wildlife management in the Camargue Natural Regional Park (CNRP): the greater flamingo. Fieldwork will be grounded on extensive research on wildlife populations in the context of the various activities taking place in the CNRP. Other field courses address the quantitative analysis of animal behaviour, the monitoring of wildlife, and ex-situ conservation. The “Parc Polaire fieldtrip”, in the Jura mountains, allows students to experience the role of and, stakes faced by, a park dedicated to the conservation of European wild species such as the European bison and deer species.
CAREER PROSPECTS
The aim of our master program is to train future scientific leaders in animal behaviour and conservation biology, as well as future managers and policy officers in biodiversity, conservation and wildlife management.
Therefore, our program aims at providing both a diversified and specialized expertise in the general fields of animal behaviour and wildlife management. It also combines behavioural ecology and conservation biology as major disciplines with some other relevant topics – ethics and deontology, epistemology, socioeconomics of conservation, structure and management of environmental organizations, in addition to the hard science of biodiversity.
The master's Alumni Office helps alumni keep in touch with each other and organises alumni events.
LIFE IN DIJON, CAPITAL CITY OF BURGUNDY (FRANCE)
The whole of the program takes place at the University of Burgundy-Franche Comté, located in the scenic city of Dijon. The former capital city of the Duchy of Burgundy, Dijon is now a medium-size French city, where you can enjoy a vibrant and active cultural life, as well as quick getaways to the countryside and the world famous neighbouring vineyards of the so-called “Golden coast”.
Life in Dijon is very affordable and accommodation easily accessible. The city is well-equipped with modern tramway and bus lines, making commuting between any place in Dijon and the University easy and convenient.
Showing marks of its medieval past, Dijon has excelled in making any subsequent architectural revolution his own. Dijon possesses a fair number of outstanding museums and remarkable monuments, and is also internationally known as the hometown of the notorious French gastronomy. Dijon has a vibrant cultural life with music and food festivals all over the year. Cultural and leisure attractions are widespread, from classical music concerts to jazz festivals, food fairs, cinemas… Dijon is also host of several top-level professional sports teams (football, basketball, handball, rugby…), while also offering a large diversity of sports facilities for the amateur. From beach-volley fields to suburban hiking and cycling paths, urban parks and the much appreciated Lake Kir, incentives to jump in a pair of trainers will be everywhere.
GRANTS
Up to five fellowship grants (800 € per month, during up to 10 months) will be awarded each year to high quality foreign students, with a particular attention to applications coming from Mediterranean countries and Caribbean island nations and territories.
APPLICATIONS
During the first year, students take examinations associated with the Master in Conservation Biology, specialized in Behavioural Ecology and Wildlife Management. Examinations must be successfully passed (i.e. obtain 60 ECTS credits) in order to proceed to the second year. In the second year, the thesis following your research project accounts for half the marks of the second year.
For further information about how to apply, please directly contact the head of the master program, Professor Frank Cézilly ([email protected]).
Please also visit our dedicated webpage (http://www.nature-conservation-ubfc.com/bewm/fr/), and like our facebook page (“Master BEWM – UBFC Dijon”) to stay up to date with the life of and the latest news about our program!
This master's degree is an innovative, international and multidisciplinary education programme that teaches students how to operationalise the most urgent calls for building more resilient and sustainable cities through urban planning and design, and how to frame adequate policies and governance models. This one-year programme provides the most up-to-date perspectives, methods and tools for dealing with the threat of climate change, natural disasters and the social and technical transformations required to minimise the environmental impact of the current global urbanisation trends, while addressing social justice.
In a world increasingly threatened by complex and rapid urbanisation and environmental, climatic and socio-economic change, this programme was created to meet the city practitioners' need to better understand and frame integrated strategies when implementing urban resilience policies and projects. At the same time, resilience is being addressed by different disciplines and from a wide range of perspectives, which sometime conflict in their meanings, approaches and methods, leading to a fragmented and confused framing of urban resilience. This master's programme provides the necessary interdisciplinary bridges, linking an integrated perspective on urban resilience to the management tools needed to design and implement city resilience.
The International Master's Degree in Designing and Managing City Resilience is a one-year, full-time master's programme developed and coordinated by the International Urban Resilience Research Network and hosted by the Universitat Internacional de Catalunya (UIC Barcelona). Its title reflects the need to go beyond the "building resilient cities" paradigm, taking resilience as a process expressed through a set of capacities and emotional responses to a range of impacts; one that cannot be just "built or designed", but must be managed.
The aim of this master's degree is to provide students multiple perspectives and the multidisciplinary skills, tools and knowledge future city resilience officers require.
The programme is divided into 3 main blocks: on-site classes, a research project and work experience. The first part of the course follows a logical sequence that starts with theoretical aspects of resilience and urbanisation processes. The next four modules explore and integrate different views on resilience, related to i) the built environment and infrastructures; ii) nature and urban ecosystems; iii) economic and city services resilience; and iv) community resilience. The final and most extensive module uses a set of international case studies and workshops (on governance models, leadership and tools for managing resilience) to explore the challenges of implementation. As the course moves forward, Barcelona will be used as a case study due to its experience in resilience, and students will have the opportunity to take part in a workshop with the Barcelona Urban Resilience Lab.
Through these workshops, students will be linked to organisations, institutes and city resilience offices worldwide, giving them the opportunity to apply their learning and skills through job placement opportunities, supporting their career and city resilience strategies for a more sustainable urban future.
See the full curriculum here.
This programme is intended for university graduates from the following areas of urban studies:
Find out more about the School of Architecture here.
Work placement is an important part of this master's programme, as it aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Students will therefore be required to complete a 20 ECTS work placement (for a minimum of four and maximum of five months, depending on the host partner).
The host partners are mainly city resilience offices from diverse cities in different countries around the world, whose work in resilience will be introduced to students during the first six months of the programme. Other possible destinations include international organisations, NGOs and multilateral agencies. Among these, the Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities Initiative, UN's City Resilience Profiling Programme and METROPOLIS, among others, stand out as key partners (for the full list of cities and organisations, please contact the programme coordinators).
View further information on how to apply online here.
Core modules include:
Optional modules include:
Recommended
Stream 1: Contaminated and Urban Environments
Stream 2: The Changing Environment
Stream 3: Agriculture and Rural Environments
Please see our modules outline for further information.
Please note that all modules are subject to change. Please see our modules disclaimer for more information.
Our students go on to work in a wide variety of academic and research posts, as well as in public and private sector organisations within the UK and internationally.
Graduates are highly employable in the growing market for environmental managers and consultants. Our programmes also provide in-service training for those already working within the profession.
This programme brings together social analysis, design, activism, and inventive research methods in a critical engagement with various dimensions of urban work – from planning, policy making, research, cultural intervention, to the management of social programmes and institutions.
Increasingly, no matter how we live, we know this 'world' primarily through the experience of living within and between cities. These cities continuously produce new challenges for their inhabitants and administrators. In doing so, they also produce opportunities for understanding the constraints and potentials of both human and non-human life.
The MA Cities and Society is a research and training programme designed to support strategic interventions in urban governance, design, institution-building and change, as well as social-spatial development. Distinguished by it's theoretical rigour, integrity and amenability to experimental empirical research, the programme focuses particularly on:
This programme covers the following disciplines: geography, anthropology, architecture, cultural studies, fine arts, media and communications.
The programme consists of:
Teaching
One hour lectures address the core themes of each module, followed by one hour seminars in small groups (under 20). You'll be encouraged to attend dissertation classes that train you in the basic principles of dissertation preparation, research and writing. You are also assigned a dissertation supervisor who will be available when you are writing the dissertation (approximately one hour contact time per month).
The main aim of the program is thus to explore new approaches to thinking about and researching the city formation and urban life. This can be broken down into three inter-related aims:
Expert walks and seminars
The course is also accompanied by a series of expert 'London walks' spread across the year. These are led by a range of researchers from within the Centre for Urban and Community Research, as well as project managers and planners from organisations such as the Greater London Authority, and take students through the sites of that their work focuses on. The Centre for Urban Community research also holds regular seminars with a range of urban professionals, architects and academics from outside the university, giving the MA Cities and Society a spaces to join in with the Centre’s intellectual community.
Assessment
Assessment consists of coursework, extended essays, reports, presentations, practice based projects or essays/logs, group projects, reflective essays, and seen and unseen written examinations.
MA granted on the completion of 180 CATS (all coursework and dissertation); Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education granted on the completion of 120 CATS (all coursework without dissertation); Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education granted on the completion of 60 CATS (the completion of two core modules).
Analytical and research skills that intersect basic sociological knowledge with that of architecture, the built environment, cultural and postcolonial theory, geography, planning, digital communications, and ethnography as they apply to the study of cities across the world.
The training in this programme is applicable to work in multilateral institutions, NGOs, urban research institutes, municipal government, cultural and policy institutions, urban design firms, and universities.
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