Architecture and Planning Beyond Sustainability, MSc
Chalmers University of Technology
Key Information
Campus location
Gothenburg, Sweden
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
2 years
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
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Application deadline
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Earliest start date
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Introduction
Architecture and Planning Beyond Sustainability, MSc
The development of cities and the built environment places enormous pressures on the natural world. As urbanisation continues at rapid pace, finding sustainable and adaptable solutions to these issues is becoming essential.
On this programme, we encourage a critical perspective of sustainable development and current practice in architecture and urban design.
The profile of this programme — 'beyond sustainability” — will place you right at the cutting edge of trends in the field, working with new knowledge, methods and perspectives to move beyond current practice, and shape the next step in sustainability.
We consider social, ethical, norm-critical and de-colonial questions and approaches throughout the education. We emphasise respect for the existing built structures in our environment as cultural as well as economic resources, interdisciplinary cooperation and the importance of research.
The educational approach takes the form of a series of design studios, developing your skills through complex design tasks in very different situations and contexts. This could include, for example, neighbourhoods and municipalities in Sweden, informal settlements in developing countries, and investigations into the diverse technical and social challenges of sustainable building and transformation.
This method challenges and develops your ability to analyse and situate local conditions in relation to broader contexts. The design studios offer experience-based learning, fieldwork, tailored lectures, literature studies, seminars, workshops, design project work, and exhibitions. The problems and potential solutions encountered will vary significantly, but what ties them together is the use of a systemic approach to tackling the issues.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Scholarships are a great source of funding for Master's students who are liable to pay tuition fees. Some of these are administrated by Chalmers and others by external institutions. Additional scholarships may be appended to the list and applicants are therefore encouraged to check this webpage regularly.
Please visit the university website for more information.
Curriculum
Compulsory courses year 1
During the first year semester, the programme starts with compulsory content that forms a common foundation in Architecture and urban design from the perspective of sustainability.
Compulsory courses year 2
In the second year, you must complete a master's thesis in order to graduate. The thesis may be worth 30 credits or 60 credits depending on your choice.
- Master's thesis
Program Outcome
Credits: 120
Students completing the master's programme are awarded the degree of Master of Science, 120 ECTS credits, with architecture as the main field of study. The master's programme corresponds to the final two years of the five-year study programme at Chalmers which leads to a professional degree in architecture. The professional degree, Master of Architecture/Arkitektexamen, 300 ECTS credits, can only be awarded to students completing a full five-year study programme in architecture at Chalmers.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
The education leads to a wide range of career opportunities within architecture, urban design, and planning for sustainable development as a response to increasing awareness and commitment among both public and private actors.
The global challenges of resource constraints and climate change open for new and extensive fields of professional practices. Globally rapid urbanisation, poverty reduction, and fair distribution of resources are key issues as manifested in the UN Agenda 2013 and Sustainable Development Goals.
In Sweden, the existing building stock, not least from the 1960s and 1970s, has to be reconstructed in ways that can address socioeconomic segregation problems as well as deficient environmental performance in an integrated manner. Taken together these challenges request a new generation of skilled design professionals that are able to work in cross-disciplinary expert teams and in close contact with local stakeholders.