Urban Design, MSc

120 credits
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Overview

  • Educational areaArchitecture and Urban Design
  • DegreeMaster of Science, MSc
  • LanguageEnglish
  • Duration2 years
  • Rate of studyFull-time, 100 %
  • Instructional timeDaytime

Important dates

  • Application opens
  • Application closes

Summary

Cities are facing increasingly complex societal challenges, from climate adaptation to housing pressures, segregation and aging infrastructure. Explore how to design and develop sustainable, resilient, and inclusive urban environments that can respond to these pressures. Combining design methods with systems thinking and broad stakeholder collaboration, you will be prepared to shape the future of urban environments, creating healthy, sustainable spaces for people to live and work in.

Programme description

Develop your skills in designing public, shared and private spaces in urban and rural settings, and explore the transformation of districts and neighbourhoods. The programme aims to explore how urban design can be used as a tool for sustainable transition, combining architecture, planning, landscape design and societal perspectives to reimagine and visualise how urban environments can respond to environmental, political, economic and cultural challenges.

The programme is built around the integration of theory and practice. With a focus on urban design theory, spatial analysis, sustainability, and the sociopolitical dimensions of transformation processes, you will learn how different perspectives can be applied to real scenarios.

You will learn about climate adaptation, sustainable mobility, regeneration, biodiversity, community engagement, and social inclusion. The knowledge will be used in urban design projects to create sustainable, just, and resilient urban and rural environments.

These design studio projects often include local scenarios in Sweden. There is also a focus on informal settlements in developing countries and urban design in the context of international development agencies and NGOs. The emphasis is on both analytical and creative approaches, encouraging you to combine evidence-based methods with innovative and speculative design thinking.

Urban transformation requires engagement with a wide range of actors and you will work with stakeholders from local municipalities, public agencies, industry, and civil society. You will also work with experts in diverse fields like cultural geography and political science to understand the full breadth of the field. Through workshops, design studios, and real-world projects, you will develop skills in communication, and participatory and co-design methods.

Gothenburg itself is a city in the midst of substantial urban transformation. The city has a rich mixture of contemporary design challenges, including urban scale climate adaptation and mitigation, efforts to reduce social segregation, and regeneration of former industrial sites, making it a perfect working site to understand the real-world impacts of your research and design proposals. Some design studios take a look further at other municipalities in Sweden with diverse societal challenges, helping you practice your critical thinking and participatory methods in different contexts.

You will combine traditional and digital design methods in the courses and design studios, working with tools such as pen and paper, physical models, GIS, spatial analysis, digital twins, and AI-supported design methods. Combining these tools, you will have a broad set of approaches for analysing and shaping urban environments while building your portfolio and skills needed in your career.

A recurring theme throughout is the relationship between urban design and social, environmental and economic outcomes. This includes exploring how urban design can contribute to more resilient, fair, and climate-adapted communities, considering questions of governance, inclusion, and long-term transformation.

As you will combine theory and practice, a large part of your studies will consist of design studios. You can choose design studios with a variety of themes, scales and societal challenges. For example, the design studios Community Architecture and Key Projects which take stakeholder collaboration as point of departure for urban transformation on a local or regional scale. The design studios Public Space Design and Urban Prototypes address the smaller urban scale while the studios Social-Ecological Urbanism and Urban Landscapes explore design impact on the larger scale.

As you will combine theory and practice, a large part of your studies will consist of design studios. You can choose design studios with a variety of themes, scales and societal challenges. For example, Building and Urban Climatology, where you apply climate-responsive design thinking to both individual buildings, as well as wider urban contexts. Other design studios which look at the larger urban scale include Community Architecture and Urban Design, and Public Space Design.

You can also choose to do an interdisciplinary design studio, Reality Studio, where you work directly with stakeholders in international contexts. You have the opportunity to travel abroad to both industrialised and developing countries, using architectural and urban design approaches to address human needs in rapidly changing, sometimes extreme environments. Another design studio is Dare to Build, a summer project that explores similar themes but in the local context of the city of Gothenburg.

Job opportunities

After graduation, you will be well-prepared for careers within urban design and transformation, planning, and sustainable development. The combination of urban design skills, systems thinking, collaborative practice, and advanced analytical methods opens up opportunities across disciplinary boundaries. You will be able to contribute to complex challenges such as urban transformation, strategic planning, climate adaptation, sustainable mobility, and smart-city development.

Typical destinations within the public sector include municipalities and government agencies within building, planning and infrastructure.. In the private sector, you could work in architectural and urban design practices, planning consultancies, real-estate development, infrastructure. There are also opportunities within NGOs and international organisations working with climate resilience, humanitarian architecture, community development, and sustainability transitions.

You will benefit from strong links to external partners throughout the programme, in design studios, project work, stakeholder engagement, and opportunities for master's thesis collaborations. These connections provide valuable professional experience and will help you build an early network within the field.

The programme also provides an excellent foundation for doctoral studies and research careers, in areas such as spatial morphology or critical spatial studies.

Research

The programme is closely connected to active research environments at Chalmers that contribute to international developments in urban design, planning, and transformation research. Current research is integrated throughout, in design studios, seminars, project courses, and master's thesis work.

Spatial morphology is a critical research area. This develops evidence-based approaches for understanding how urban form influences social and ecological processes. You will engage with methods for analysing urban structures, movement patterns, segregation, and environmental performance through advanced spatial analysis tools.

The programme also draws on research in co-design for equitable living environments, focusing on participatory design methods, stakeholder engagement, and collaborative approaches to urban transformation. You will work with techniques like real-world prototyping and visualisation to create resilient, sustainable, and inclusive urban spaces.

Critical spatial studies is another area of interest. This includes perspectives on spatial justice, urban inequality, and the social and political dimensions of urban development. These perspectives encourage critical reflection on how design decisions shape communities and their broader impacts on society.

You will also work with the research area of local–regional transformations. This involves understanding the relationship between urban development at the local level and broader regional systems, governance structures, and long-term transformation processes. This strengthens the focus on understanding urban challenges across multiple scales.

Together, these research environments ensure that the programme remains closely connected to current debates and thinking within urban design and transformation. This also helps provide a natural pathway into doctoral studies within urban design research.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in: Architecture, Architecture and Engineering, Landscape Architecture, Spatial planning, Urban design
Note: A Bachelor of Science with the main field of study Built environment, or a Degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering does not fulfill the requirement.

Prerequisites:

  • Courses taken within Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Spatial Planning or Urban Design, that together fulfill a minimum of 50% of credits in the degree.

  • Courses in project design work within Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Spatial Planning or Urban Design that together fulfill a minimum of 30% of credits in the degree.

  • A portfolio demonstrating the student’s progression and a documented proficiency in spatially contextualized work within Architectural Design, Landscape Design, Spatial Planning or Urban Design. The assessment of portfolios places primary emphasis on the applicant’s competence in Urban Design. While applicants may have backgrounds in Architecture, Planning, or Landscape Architecture, the evaluation priorities demonstrated skills in Spatial Analysis, Contextual Design, and Urban Design Methodology.

How to submit the project portfolio:

The project portfolio is one of the required documents for this programme. It must be submitted according to the instructions via a unique link for this programme only. For instructions on how to submit your portfolio, read the information and follow the instructions in tab 7 in the section "Submit required documents" (use this link).

Note: Do not submit the project portfolio to your account at universityadmissions.se/antagning.se. It will then neither be assessed nor approved.

English language requirements: Prove your English proficiency

How to apply

From application to admission

This guide explains how to apply for a Master's programme and which documents you need to submit to complete your application.