Masters degrees in Urban Planning equip postgraduates with advanced knowledge and training in the processes of developing and maintaining the infrastructure of urban towns and cities.
Entry requirements normally include an undergraduate degree in a relevant field, such as Architecture, Geography, or Planning.
This MA course will give you the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary to practise professionally as a spatial planner. It is designed to meet the growing employer needs for staff who can investigate changes in the natural and built environments, manage the challenges of climate change through sustainable development, and debate and critically reflect upon the knowledge and values underpinning current approaches to land use development. Completion of the MA course is the first step to become a full member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
The course will support your personal and professional development. You will be able to work in the interdisciplinary and cross-sector environment of urban and regional development, in a variety of private, public and community contexts, and apply your knowledge to practise in specialist areas of planning. The course builds on the University's experience of delivering postgraduate courses in town planning for more than 60 years.
The course explores the current context and content of spatial planning. It does so from a UK and European perspective, and also investigates underlying theoretical debates.
If you want to gain a greater understanding of spatial planning, but do not want to study for a full Masters course, we also offer an Urban and Regional Planning Postgraduate Diploma and an Urban and Regional Planning Postgraduate Certificate. Scroll to the bottom of this page to find out more about these courses.
For the award of the MA students need to pass modules totalling 180 credits. MA students take all core modules and choose one specialist option module.
The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course.
Core modules
Optional modules
On successful completion of the MA course students can become licentiates of the RTPI. After two years' experience in practice, they may make a submission for their Assessment of Professional Competence and, if successful, are then entitled to full RTPI membership.
Visiting lectures are given by a wide range of external practitioners. The teaching team has extensive links with planning institutions including the RTPI and the Town and Country Planning Association. The course includes part-time students working in planning-related positions in private and public sectors.
Most of the students on the course are already in planning or planning-related posts. Full-time students graduating from the course as qualified planners will normally be offered planning positions in the public or private sector on graduation.
Examples of companies that have recruited our graduates include:
Now more than ever, more emphasis has been placed on the environmental management and planning of our cities. Graduates must acquire knowledge to solve problems and reshape the quality and performance of cities around the world.
Gain access to a wide range of career pathways in the natural and built environments with a Master of Sustainable Environments and Planning at Bond. Graduates will receive theoretical and practical skills to undertake environmental management, and urban and regional developments.
The Master of Sustainable Environments and Planning is delivered in intensive mode. Intensive mode delivery is a compact and time efficient way to complete a postgraduate qualification with minimal impact on professional and personal lifestyles. Each subject is delivered over two weekends during the semester. There are two sets of three-day sessions per subject, generally scheduled Thursday to Saturday (approximately six to eight contact hours per day) with a break of four or five weeks between session one and session two of each subject.
Participants will receive 40 hours of combined lectures, discussion groups, case studies and workshops during contact hours. International students are required to be on campus every week.
The program is also professionally recognised by some of Australia’s leading professional bodies. This allows graduates to differentiate themselves within the industry.
The Master of Sustainable Environments and Planning program focuses on Environmental Management as well as Urban Design & Planning. The Environmental Management component provides an in-depth examination of environmental management, including field work. The content is globally focused, providing qualifications that are in demand worldwide. Students may apply for a postgraduate industry internship in the final semester of the program. This includes the option of being involved in a client based environmental management capstone project or research dissertation. The Urban Design and Planning curriculum equips graduates with the theoretical and practical skills required to undertake the design, appraisal and management of urban and regional developments. With this qualification, professionals from a built environment background will be able to undertake urban planning and development at a professional level.
View the Master of Sustainable Environments and Planning - Program Structure and Sequencing
The structure of the Master of Sustainable Environments and Planning comprises both theoretical and practical subjects. This program is designed in close consultation with prominent industry professional boards to ensure the integrity and contemporary relevance of the degree.
This program enables you to exit after four (4) subjects with a graduate certificate, after eight (8) subjects with a graduate diploma or complete 12 subjects for a master’s degree.
Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Environments and Planning (4)
You must complete four (4) of the following subjects:
Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Environments and Planning (8)
If you have obtained a cognate undergraduate degree and seek accreditation by the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) you must complete the following eight (8) subjects:
If you are not seeking accreditation from PIA you may complete eight (8) subjects from the following:
Master of Sustainable Environments and Planning (12)
To complete a Master of Sustainable Environments and Planning, you must complete all of the following subjects:
Electives (2)
Students choose any two electives from the FSD list of postgraduate subjects.
In an increasingly urbanised world, there is growing international demand for urban design graduates. This course will equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to participate in this rapidly expanding profession. Urban design involves shaping the physical setting for life in cities. The pace of urban change, and the challenge of making cities efficient, sustainable and meaningful, demands creative solutions to design and management. The Urban Design courses at Westminster provide a coherent approach to issues that face our cities, combining structured academic study with live design projects, allowing you to develop practical skills, a theoretical understanding and an informed approach to sustainable urban development.
Our Urban Design course is one of the largest and longest established in the UK. It enjoys an excellent reputation and our graduates are highly respected in the profession. Our students are from a variety of professions and backgrounds, including architecture, landscape architecture and planning, from the UK, Europe, and across the globe. They range from recent graduates seeking to expand their skill base before commencing their career or those considering a shift from an allied profession, to established professionals seeking to specialise or develop a more informed critical approach. Our central London location allows you to interact with a huge variety of practitioners and organisations, as well as drawing on the city’s huge range of resources; you will be at the heart of the debate over the future of cities.
The course places a strong emphasis on design, practical outputs and a multidisciplinary approach. While focusing on UK examples, the lessons from the courses are applicable to a wide range of international and economic contexts. This flexible and student-centred approach is highly valued by former graduates and their employers. The course is delivered by staff with many years' experience in practice, education, training, research, and consultancy in the UK and overseas. Outputs from the course combine into a portfolio demonstrating your ability to deal with the complexities of urban design in a practical and informed manner.
The following modules are indicative of what you study on this course.
Core modules
Optional modules
Graduates of this course typically find employment as urban designers in private consultancy or local authorities. Many find the course useful when developing careers in architecture, planning or landscape architecture.
In an increasingly urbanised world, there is growing international demand for urban design graduates. These courses will equip you with the knowledge and skills you need to participate in this rapidly expanding profession. Urban design involves shaping the physical setting for life in cities. The pace of urban change, and the challenge of making cities efficient, sustainable and meaningful, demands creative solutions to design and management. The Urban Design courses at Westminster provide a coherent approach to issues that face our cities, combining structured academic study with live design projects, allowing you to develop practical skills, a theoretical understanding and an informed approach to sustainable urban development.
Our Urban Design programme is one of the largest and longest established in the UK. It enjoys an excellent reputation and our graduates are highly respected in the profession. Our students are from a variety of professions and backgrounds, including architecture, landscape architecture and planning, from the UK, Europe, and across the globe. They range from recent graduates seeking to expand their skill base before commencing their career or those considering a shift from an allied profession, to established professionals seeking to specialise or develop a more informed critical approach. Our central London location allows you to interact with a huge variety of practitioners and organisations, as well as drawing on the city's huge range of resources; you will be at the heart of the debate over the future of cities.
The course places a strong emphasis on design, practical outputs and a multidisciplinary approach. While focusing on UK examples, the lessons from the courses are applicable to a wide range of international and economic contexts. This flexible and student-centred approach is highly valued by former graduates and their employers. The course is delivered by staff with many years' experience in practice, education, training, research, and consultancy in the UK and overseas. Outputs from the course combine into a portfolio demonstrating your ability to deal with the complexities of urban design in a practical and informed manner.
The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course.
Core modules
Optional modules
Graduates of this course typically find employment as urban designers in private consultancy or local authorities. Many find the course useful when developing careers in architecture, planning or landscape architecture.
This professionally accredited postgraduate programme has been carefully designed as a 'fast-track' conversion course for graduates of any discipline who wish to make a career in planning or in related fields. It aims to broaden students' appreciation of planning and urban theory whilst providing them with the necessary skills to engage in critical and creative problem-solving.
Students analyse the definition of, and solutions to, urban and regional planning problems and the nature of existing planning systems and practices. Emphasis is placed on the importance of a spatial and comparative perspective to planning and the need for integrated solutions to planning problems and the achievement of sustainable development.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.
The programme consists of five core modules (90 credits), one specialism with two modules (30 credits), and a research dissertation (60 credits).
A Postgraduate Diploma, five core modules (90 credits), two optional modules from the list of possible specialisms available (30 credits), full-time nine months, is offered.
Core modules
Optional modules
Students choose two linked modules from the following to form a specialist study area:
Dissertation/report
All MSc students undertake an independent research project, closely related to the specialist option chosen and linked to UK spatial planning. The project culminates in a dissertation of 10,000 words.
Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through individual and group project work, skills-based practical and IT work, lectures, tutorials and seminars. A short field course based in a European city outside the UK will take place in the second term. Assessment is through individual and group work, essays, examination, skills-based practical work, and the dissertation.
Fieldwork
Students undertake two field trips (if studying on a part-time basis, both in the first year); one two-day trip in November to a British city and one five-day trip in February to a continental European city to learn about planning policies and issues in different contexts.
The cost of the field trip (flights and accommodation) is included in the programme fee.
Further information on modules and degree structure is available on the department website: Spatial Planning MSc
There are a number of sources of funding available specifically for students in The Bartlett School of Planning.
For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.
Graduates have been very successful in gaining subsequent employment, including core public and private sector planning careers (such as local government and local, national and international consultancies), as well as the housing and transport sectors; planning, urban regeneration and environmental agencies; public and private utility companies; think tanks and public policy organisations; environmental campaign groups; and teaching and research.
Employability
The programme equips graduates with a wide range of skills beneficial to employability including planning specific skills (an appreciation of policy-making and implementation, of spatial analysis, basic principles of urban design, social research and plan-making and decision-making processes) as well as more generic skills (group work, independent research, communication skills including presentation and writing, and problem solving skills).
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.
UCL's Bartlett School of Planning (BSP) has a strong history of teaching and research. It has been at the forefront of planning research and teaching for 100 years and is one of the foremost planning schools in the United Kingdom, with an international reputation. Based in the heart of London there is much for students to learn from being at the cutting-edge of policy-relevant critical debate, empirical study and research-led teaching. The staff profile is multidisciplinary and teaching staff are actively involved in shaping the theories and debates covered in their teaching. Our annual public lectures attract pre-eminent speakers from around the world and our student body has a broad, international profile.
Although situated within global and European contexts, the focus for the programme is primarily the UK, and particularly London. London is a complex setting that provides the natural and most accessible laboratory for BSP students. An emphasis on understanding the social and physical world will lead to a greater appreciation of how action or intervention shapes place. But at the same time, there is a concern with ethical issues as a framework for planned intervention.
This MSc programme is fully accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Accreditation:
The programme is fully accredited by both the RTPI and RICS. Students successfully completing the MSc in Spatial Planning are eligible for licentiate membership of either or both bodies, regardless of the subject focus of their undergraduate degree.
Prepare for a professional career as a planning practitioner
As we adapt to global changes that impact our cities including climate change, deepening inequality, concerns for community health and safety, and the emergence of global city-regions, planning has never been more critical.
The Master of Urban Planning is a professional degree that focuses on Australian and international policy and planning pertaining to human settlements and how we cope with these challenging population and environmental issues.
The Master of Urban Planning is accredited by the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) and undergoes a regular review process to ensure the quality and relevance of the program.
Completing an accredited degree means you enter the workforce with a stamp of quality on your CV. In a competitive market, an accredited degree is an assurance of quality to employers and an advantage for you. For us, it means we continually strive to improve the quality of the degree in order to retain accreditation. So, you know you are getting the most up-to-date and innovative educational experience.
In the Master of Urban Planning, you will examine the interaction between people, the places they live and the policies that help shape economically viable, socially just, environmentally sustainable, safe and healthy communities. You will explore:
The program allows you to develop expertise in an area of specialisation in preparation for a focussed career. As well as core courses, electives and a research thesis, you will complete four courses in one of the following areas:
You will develop critical thinking skills and the ability to respond creatively to urban planning issues. You will examine cities in an international comparative context, gaining knowledge you can apply in your career, wherever you end up.
The MUP will:
Many Master of Urban Planning graduates enter the public sector and work in government departments and agencies, or for local councils and regions.
The private sector and civil society, within Australia and internationally, offers an increasing range of employment opportunities, including urban planning and design, environmental and transport planning consultancies, property development companies, and housing and community advocacy. There are also opportunities in tertiary education and research.
Urban planners work with teams of related professionals such as architects, landscape architects, engineers, environmental scientists, economists, property valuers, real estate developers, lawyers and sociologists.
The Urban Development Planning MSc explores international practices in urban development policy, planning and management that address contemporary spatial, socio-economic and political transformations in cities of the Global South.
This MSc aims to equip participants to work effectively as development practitioners in urban contexts through a deeper understanding of the processes that generate urban change. The programme aims to enhance their diagnostic and strategic capacities to respond to such change within the framework of socially just urban governance.
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 dissertation (60 credits).
A Postgraduate Diploma, three core modules (90 credits), one optional module (30 credits), full-time nine months, is offered.
Core modules
Optional modules
Please note, not all optional modules may be available.
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 lectures, seminars, group work, workshops and field trips. Field trips so far have taken place in Egypt, Ghana, India, Thailand, and Tanzania. Student performance is assessed through essays, coursework, team project reports, written examinations, the overseas field trip and a 10,000-word dissertation.
This MSc is widely recognised by international organisations and agencies (such as UN agencies and the World Bank) and bilateral aid organisations from different countries. 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. Graduates have also been employed by international NGOs and aid and development agencies. Some graduates return to their home countries and engage in the practice, teaching or research of urban development practice; other graduates have successfully sought employment in international development organisations away from their own countries.
Recent career destinations for this degree
Employability
The programme aims to help students:
This programme argues that planning is key to dealing with urban problems and opportunities presented by rapid urbanisation in the Global South, but that its potential cannot be harnessed without a critical understanding of the processes that generate urban change in specific contexts.
The programme seeks to equip students with the capacity to develop critical diagnoses of urban issues, as a basis for developing propositional responses within the framework of socially, spatially and environmentally just urban governance.
The programme promotes a deeper understanding of community-led and partnership-based urban development planning. Students also benefit from the Development Planning Unit's longstanding and geographically exhaustive alumni and partner network.
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).
This Master's programme has a unique focus on urban design as a creative planning tool and the interface between urban design and city planning. It offers a comprehensive understanding and exposure to urban design theory and practice, and also the complexity of its interface with the city planning field.
The programme equips students theoretically and practically, engaging academically and in practice with urban design and related fields of knowledge. Students will learn how to think critically, creatively and in analytical ways across the different city scales, from strategic to local, and across urban design, city planning, place-making, real estate and sustainability arenas.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.
The programme consists of eight compulsory modules (120 credits), and a research dissertation or major research project (60 credits).
A Postgraduate Diploma, eight modules (120 credits) full-time nine months and part-time 2-5 years, is offered.
A Postgraduate Certificate, four core modules (60 credits), full-time nine months is offered.
Core modules
Dissertation/research project
MSc students have the choice between a 10,000-word dissertation or 8,000-word final major research project in planning; the dissertation being by nature a rather more analytical exercise and the project a rather more propositional one.
Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through a combination of individual and group project work, skills-based practical and IT work, lectures (including some by visiting practitioners), tutorials, student presentations, seminars, field trips and direct practitioner involvement. Student performance is assessed through individual and group work, essays, examinations, project work, other skills-based practical work, and a dissertation or final research project report.
Graduate students from the Bartlett School of Planning have been very successful in gaining subsequent employment. There is growing demand for our Master's graduates from a wide range of both public and private employers. On completion of this programme the majority of graduates will work in either the public or private consultancy sectors. A minority will continue in higher degree studies and research.
Employability
The Urban Design and City Planning MSc is an opportunity for students seeking to further their professional careers to specialise in urban design and, within that broad arena, to engage deeply with both the theoretical debates and practice methodologies, with particular research agendas of direct relevance to the future of their professional practice.
The Bartlett School of Planning has a strong history of teaching and research at all levels. The school has been at the forefront of planning research and teaching for more than 100 years and is one of the foremost planning schools in the United Kingdom, with an international reputation.
This programme is fully accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
The Bartlett School of Planning is situated in the heart of London, which offers unique opportunities to study the complexities of contemporary urban design and planning processes, and engage with practitioners, alumni and academic guests through seminars, site visits and workshops.
The International Planning MSc provides a strong international and comparative focus on planning, urban theory and practice. The scope of the programme primarily encompasses Europe, North America, Australia, South Africa and the Far East, and increasingly China and South-East Asia.
Students develop an appreciation of planning approaches and systems, alongside an understanding of planning as a culturally specific, context-dependent activity taking different forms in different countries and regions. The programme aims to provide students with a broad range of skills and knowledge in planning and urban theory in a global context while offering them the opportunity to develop a specialisation.
Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits.
The programme consists of six core modules (90 credits), one specialism with two modules (30 credits), a research dissertation (60 credits), and a field trip (not credit bearing).
A Postgraduate Diploma, six core modules (90 credits), two optional modules from the list of possible specialisms available (30 credits), full-time nine months, is offered.
Core modules
Optional modules
Students choose two linked modules from the following to form a specialist study area:
Dissertation/report
All MSc students undertake an independent research project which culminates in a dissertation of 10,000 words.
Teaching and learning
The programme is delivered through a combination of individual and group project work, skills-based practical and IT work, traditional lectures, tutorials and seminars, field trips and direct practitioner involvement. Student performance is assessed through individual and group work, essays, examination, and skills-based practical work.
Fieldwork
There is a field study trip in Reading Week in term two (which is part of assessed module BENVGPLG. (View the video of 2015/16 cohort's trip to Barcelona.)
Further information on modules and degree structure is available on the department website: International Planning MSc
International Planning graduates have been very successful in gaining subsequent employment in various sectors. At present, there is a growing demand for our graduates from a wide range of both public and private employers in the UK and abroad. They are employed in both local and central government internationally, in global planning-related consultancies, as well as in a wide range of other related sectors, such as housing, transport and urban regeneration, as well as in public and private utility companies, teaching and research.
Recent career destinations for this degree
Employability
Recent graduates of the MSc in International Planning have gone on to work in a variety of international contexts and roles including leading London-based planning, design and architecture consultancies; UK-based local authorities and government offices; overseas government offices and ministries; overseas private sector consultancies in planning, design, construction and development; non-for-profit organisations and charities worldwide; academic research and teaching.
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.
UCL's Bartlett School of Planning has a strong history of teaching and research. The school has been at the forefront of planning research and teaching for nearly 100 years and is one of the foremost planning schools in the United Kingdom, with an international reputation.
This MSc programme is fully accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Based in the heart of London there is much for students to learn from being at the forefront of policy-relevant critical debate, empirical study and research-led teaching. The staff profile is multidisciplinary and teaching staff are actively involved in shaping the theories and debates covered in their teaching. Our annual public lectures attract pre-eminent speakers from around the world and our student body has a broad, international profile.
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: Bartlett School of Planning
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.
