Sustainable Urban Development MSc

University of Oxford

The two-year MSc in Sustainable Urban Development will provide a rigorous and critical understanding of the policy and practice of sustainable urban development. The course exposes students to sustainable urbanism as both an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary subject at global, national and local scales.

Attention is paid to the intellectual history of sustainable urban development, its current and future applications and practice, and the contemporary relevance of research to sustainable urban policy and practice across cities of the Global North and South.

The programme attracts a lively and engaged group of students, who combine postgraduate study with their professional lives, and an active alumni network. Students on the course come from a wide international background and share a variety of work experiences in urban development and the built environment.

The MSc is designed for those operating in a range of urban contexts worldwide - public, private or third sector organisations - and fosters collaboration, creativity, perspective-sharing and effective networking skills. The MSc runs in partnership with The Prince's Foundation and is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The course is delivered by University academics, industry experts, urban researchers and practitioners in the built environment. Regular contributors include the University’s Transport Studies Unit.

Course structure

You will attend eight intensive residential teaching weeks during the two years of study, six held in Oxford with the Department for Continuing Education and two held in London at The Prince's Foundation. Each teaching week addresses a core theme of the course.

In the first year, you will study five interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teaching weeks:

• Introducing Sustainable Urban Development
• Climate Change and the Built Environment
• Place-making and Urban Design
• Financing Sustainability
• Sustainable Transport

During teaching weeks, you will also follow foundation courses in urban theory and urban economics tailored to sustainable urban development, comprising sessions on the intellectual history of sustainable urbanism, paradigm shifts and challenges in sustainable development and the economics of sustainability.

In the second year, you will study three interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary teaching weeks:

• Urbanism, Community and City-Building
• Urbanisation in the Global South
• Leadership, Governance and Future Cities

You will spend the latter half of the second year working on a 15,000-word dissertation. You will choose the topic with the guidance of your supervisor. Research methods are taught from the start and give students an understanding of research strategies, fostering the skills needed for designing, conducting, analysing, interpreting and reporting a small-scale research study that is required for the dissertation.

Teaching

The course is delivered through a mix of teaching and learning methods, including seminars, site visits, peer-review, research workshops and individual tutorials. Classes are seminar-based, encouraging active participation and enabling students to learn from each other. You will prepare for sessions by reading a selection of recommended books, book chapters and articles. Typically, there are six to eight weeks between each teaching week, during which time you should expect to spend an average of 20 hours per week of independent study.