MSc International Planning and Urban Design
Cardiff, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
GBP 10,700 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
Distance Learning
* fees for overseas status: ยฃ24,700
Introduction
This MSc will provide you with a broad education in international planning and a specialism in urban design, enabling you to acquire the knowledge and critical understanding to make a significant contribution to the management and design control processes of cities.
- International focus: Concerned with the major planning challenges faced by cities in Asia and the Global South.
- Globally connected: Engage with a range of stakeholders and collaborate with organisations, governments and socio-economic sectors around the world.
- Multi-scale exploration: Emphasis on different spatial scales from small plots within existing built fabric to large planned neighbourhoods on underdeveloped land.
- Career-enhancing: Develop key urban design skills and competencies alongside robust understanding of the many contexts within which practitioners operate.
The extraordinary effects of urbanisation are now deeply interconnected with many of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Cities around the world recognise that they can no longer ignore the scale of the political, socioeconomic, and environmental problems which often define the urban experience. These impacts โ such as the erosion of public spaces, community displacement, traffic congestion, pollution and environmental damage, outdated and failing infrastructure, sharpening inequalities in wealth, health and well-being โ are pervasive. Our MSc in International Planning and Urban Design is designed to equip you with the skills needed to analyse, understand, and confront these challenges.
Today, the speed and scope of urbanisation is intertwined with the need for immediate and profound response to the environmental climate crises facing our planet. The work of critical planners and innovative urban designers is now imperative as we seek to overcome the most profound challenges facing humanity: how can we (re)create cities that are responsive to the needs of citizens today whilst ensuring the sustainability of our collective global future?
In response to these immense challenges, national governments, municipal authorities, and communities alike need the help of practitioners of planning and urban design in their quest for the revolutionary reimagining of the possibility of cities. This programme will support you in developing a powerful range of skills and aptitudes for research, design, and critical thinking - tools that are vital for practitioners seeking to engage with communities, developers, politicians, and institutions - to help create healthy, vibrant, and sustainable cities.
We place an emphasis on the theoretical, methodological, and empirical ways of understanding urban problems. You will gain a broad education in international planning and a specialism in urban design, incorporating practical analysis and design skills, techniques for communication and collaboration, and a wide range of essential professional tools. This knowledge and learning experience will empower you with the ambition and confidence to shape a career in urban design and planning as an agent of positive change for our collective future.
Admissions
Curriculum
The programme lasts a year. You will take taught modules to the value of 120 credits between October and May, taking 60 credits each semester. On successful completion of the taught stage, you will complete a dissertation worth 60 credits between June and September.
The classification of your degree is based on two-thirds of the average grade of the taught modules and one-third of the grade of your dissertation.
You will take six taught modules worth 20 credits each. Five of these modules will be core modules. The remaining one will be an optional module from a prescribed list.
You will complete a dissertation based on original research. You will be able to specialise in an area through the optional module and by your dissertation topic if you wish. You will be advised at the start of the programme on the different specialist areas.
Core modules for year one
- Site Planning, Design and Development
- Planning City Futures
- Designing Cities
- Urban Theory Provocations
- Research Methods
- Dissertation
Program Outcome
What skills will I practise and develop?
Knowledge & Understanding:
On completion of this programme you will demonstrate:
- a critical understanding of the current and anticipated major problems and challenges faced by global cities and their potential solutions through the planning system and design interventions
- a critical understanding of theoretical debates, ideological constructions and applications of planning and urban design
- knowledge of how design fits into the planning process with respect to regulatory and policy frameworks and how this can vary at different spatial scales
- a critical understanding of planning systems in different countries and taking into account urban dynamics and processes, public policies and regulation, and exploring alternatives and opportunities.
Intellectual Skills:
On completion of this programme you will demonstrate:
- independent and critical understanding of the multiple interactions between planning, urban design and urban process from a theoretical, methodological and practical point of view
- advanced skills in independent research and analysis (including formulating and carrying out a critical research agenda)
- knowledge of quantitative and qualitative methods and associated data management and analysis
- critical appreciation and interpretation of theoretical debates and empirical data.
Professional Practical Skills:
On completion of this programme you will demonstrate:
- the ability to analyse the problems of the interface between planning and urban design and begin to identify potential responses and alternatives within policy and regulatory frameworks
- development in professional and practical skills and competencies in planning and urban design
Transferable/Key Skills:
On completion of this programme you will demonstrate:
- the ability to organise, analyse and critically present complex ideas and evidence orally and in written form
- the ability to work independently; the ability to work collaboratively in groups and to plan and conduct empirical research
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
After the completion of the programme, you will be able to work in a wide range of planning and urban design careers, including jobs in public, private and Third Sector organisations. It can involve policy-making (for instance, on urban and regional planning, urban design, sustainable urban development, housing, transport), consultancy on local and international development, project management, as well as further studies towards an academic career in planning and urban design studies.