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Contact details

Bartlett Graduate Faculty Clerk

Email: dpu@ucl.ac.uk

Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 1111

Fees and funding

UK/EU 2013/14:

£10,250 (FT)

Overseas 2013/14:

£17,750 (FT)

Successful applicants to the programme are frequently financed by DfID (through the British Council), their governments and international agencies.

Specific funds are available through the Premadasa Scholarship (Sri Lankan only), or the Otto Koenigsberger Scholarship (fees only).

Full details of funding opportunities can be found on the UCL Scholarships website

More information

Prospectus Entry

Development Planning Unit

Key facts

Research Assessment Rating

60% rated 4* (world-leading) or 3* (internationally excellent)
(What is the RAE?)

Urban Development Planning MSc

This MSc explores the challenges of urban governance in the global South, seeking to expand the room for manoeuvre for socially and spatially just urban development planning.

Degree summary

What will I learn?

This MSc aims to equip participants to work effectively as development practitioners in urban contexts through a deeper understanding of the processes that generate urban change. The programme aims to enhance their diagnostic and strategic capacities to respond to such change within the framework of socially just urban governance.

Why should I study this degree at UCL?

The Development Planning Unit is an international centre concerned with promoting sustainable forms of development, understanding rapid urbanisation and encouraging innovation in the policy, planning and management responses to the economic, social and environmental development of cities and regions, especially in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

This MSc focuses on international practices in urban development policy, planning and management, addressing spatial, socio-economic and political transformation in the global South. The programme promotes a deeper understanding of community-led urban development in partnership with other actors, based on political economy, socio-cultural and spatial perspectives on urban policy, planning and management.

See subject website for more information:

Degree structure

Availability: Full-time 1 year; Part-time 2 years (flexible 3-5 years)

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. The programme consists of three core modules (90 credits), one optional module (30 credits) and a development and planning report (60 credits).

A Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits, full-time nine months) is offered.

Core Modules

  • The City and Its Relations
  • Urban Development Policy, Planning and Management
  • Practice in Urban Development Planning

Options

  • Building and Urban Design in Development
  • Housing Policy, Programme and Project Alternatives
  • Disaster Risk Reduction in Cities
  • Post Disaster Recovery: Policies, Practices and Alternatives
  • Gender in Policy and Planning
  • Criticial Urbanism Studio I – Learning from Informality: Case Studies and Alternatives
  • Critical Urbanism Studio II – Investigative Design Strategies for Contested Spaces
  • Management and Planning for Development
  • Political Economy of Development
  • The Political Ecology of Environmental Change
  • Urban Environmental Planning and Management in Development
  • Adapting Cities to Climate Change in the Global South
  • Social Development and Poverty Reduction: from Theory to Practice
  • Urban Development and Economics

Dissertation/report

All MSc students submit a 10,000-word report on a topic related to the main themes of the programme. The topic can be chosen to enhance career development or for its inherent interest.

Teaching and Learning

The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, group work, workshops and field trips. Fieldtrips so far have taken place in Egypt, Ghana, India and Thailand. Student performance is assessed through course work, team project reports, written examinations, the overseas fieldtrip and a 10,000-word report.

Further details available on subject website:

Entry and application

Entry requirements

The normal minimum qualifications are a second-class Bachelor's degree from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

A second acceptable qualification is corporate membership of one of the following UK institutions: the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE); the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB); the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE); the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA); the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).

A third acceptable qualification is a degree of lower than second-class Honours standard, or an equivalent overseas qualification, in a subject appropriate to the programme, plus extensive background and experience in the field. The latter implies considerable experience as a professional at a senior level. For applicants without a first degree or full professional membership, but with relevant and substantial work experience in the field, a special qualifying examination may be set. Details of this route can be obtained from the Bartlett's Graduate Faculty Office.

How to apply

You may choose to apply online or download application materials; for details visit www.ucl.ac.uk/gradapps

The deadline for applications is 2 August 2013. Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

Who can apply?

Participants from a range of backgrounds, including those working, or aspiring to work in international aid agencies, central government and local authorities, non-governmental organisations, academia and the private sector will benefit from this programme. Students come from a variety of disciplines, including planning, architecture, geography, economics, political science and sociology.

What are we looking for?

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

  • why you want to study Urban Development Planning at graduate level
  • why you want to study Urban Development Planning at UCL
  • what particularly attracts you to the chosen programme
  • how your academic and professional background meets the demands of this challenging programme
  • where you would like to go professionally with your degree
Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver.

Career

This MSc is widely recognised by international organisations and agencies (such as UN agencies and the World Bank) and bilateral aid organisations from different countries. Graduate destinations range from UK-based organisations in the public, private and community sectors, to governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations which operate in a development capacity in the South.

Graduates have also been employed by international NGOs and Aid and Development Agencies. Some graduates return to their home countries and engage in the practice, teaching or research of urban development practice; other graduates have successfully sought employment in international development organisations away from their own countries.

Find out more about London graduates' careers by visiting the Careers Group (University of London) website:

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