MA Urban Design

at Birmingham City University

WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS COURSE?
Urban design lies at the critical junction of an ever-increasing urban population that continues to add pressure to global systems from political strategies to personal experience. Now is the time we must be innovative and joined-up in our thinking, to work together whatever the background, be it originally in architecture and design, planning, or other fields, which relates to global challenges and opportunities.

This design-focused Masters programme is rooted in a deep connection between the latest theories and practices. We blur and move beyond the traditional discipline boundaries of architecture, landscape architecture and planning, social and economic studies, responding to contemporary contexts and continuously striving to incorporate new ways of thinking.

You will learn how to critique, create and experiment with high quality, trans-disciplinary design of urban places. Through collaborative creative processes you will be encouraged to appreciate urban design as an umbrella profession and embrace the dynamic diversity of human conditions.

You will explore ways to refine the way we think about, and make, the places that represent and support our lives, looking to innovative strategies that facilitate happier and more sustainable places for both the short- and long-term success of humanity and our fellow species. In these ways, you will form a deeper appreciation of how places need to be successfully made and sustained.

Drawing on extensive experience in research and practice, this Master's in Urban Design provides a balance of practical and theoretical learning, within the following themes:

Design Process

• Exploratory, iterative design creativity
• Strategies and framework design processes
• Life and Place: curating sustainability, value, character and function
• Socio-economic and physical analysis across diverse contexts
• Collaborative design strategy and the role(s) of the urban designer

Communication

• Contemporary visualisation for urban design - best practice and innovation
• Mixed-media design communication: explorations in interface and interactivity
• Communicating with structure, character and precision

Practice

• Professional and ethical evaluation
• Transdisciplinary, participatory and inclusive practice
• Sectors, trends and the targeted marketing of design
• Time and process management

Theory and Debates

• Contemporary global questions and debates
• Between practical theories and theoretical practices
• International urban-isms, people and design
• Research practice and process
   

Modes/Methods:

• Design Studio – open, surgery style tutorials, unique to design learning, flexible to time requirements.
• Group Tutorials – allow focused discussions on specific themes or design stages.
• Individual Tutorials – focus on specifics of individual process.
• Formal Presentations: interim, summary and formal review, promotes professionalism.
• Research and Independent Study – required for self-reflection, deep development of individual approaches, supported by other methods.
• Traditional Lectures: informational presentations, typically on design approaches systems or areas of practice debate, or theoretical questions.
• Seminars – discussion groups on themes of contemporary debate.
• Demonstrations/Workshops/CPD – for instruction on specific design software, materials, systems or technologies.
• Study trips/tours – experiential learning, guided discussion in physical context of example, and/or project sites, both local and with international options.
• Collaborative and/or Live Projects – provide focus on specific working conditions, especially working with other disciplines, subject networking, considering practice context and considering inclusivity in design processes.
• ‘Superstudio’ – design studio which runs between courses in the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design, with a variety of contemporary modes from technical to discursive that change on a week-by-week basis.

Interactive learning Platforms

• Moodle Virtual Learning Platform, with illustrated briefs, audio-video links, schedules and core course/module info.
• Microsoft Teams, supporting conversational communication, day to day tutoring and support.
• Miro – interactive space for collaborative discussions.
• Always exploring and eager to discuss emergent ways to work: e.g. currently deeply exploring various ways to work with AR/VR at various stages of the design process.
   

BA Hons / BSc degree in a related design subject such as Urban Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Design for Future Living, with minimum Lower Second-Class (2:2).

Applications can be considered from students with a BA Hons / BSc degree in Geography, Planning, or equivalent economic or social science, will be considered through interview and portfolio.

Applications from students with alternative qualifications and/or substantial work experience will be considered individually on their merits through interview and portfolio.

Non-English speakers should have IELTS 6.0 overall with 5.5 minimum in all bands.

As a minimum, applicants should have a portfolio demonstrating their critical thinking, technical abilities and creative process in a range of media.

UK STUDENTS
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation based on the Retail Prices Index and the additional costs we incur each year to deliver our courses, maintain and develop our infrastructure and provide a range of support services, or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.

Full Time 1 year £7,900 in 2022/23
 

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation based on the Retail Prices Index and the additional costs we incur each year to deliver our courses, maintain and develop our infrastructure and provide a range of support services, or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.

Full Time 1 year £16,300 in 2022/23
 

You should also mention your future plans and how a postgraduate qualification fits in. Try to look beyond your postgraduate study – do you plan to jump straight into a specific career or follow your studies with a research degree? Lastly, use plain, professional English and, where possible, utilise the language of your chosen industry.