MSc Building and Urban

Design in Development
Combining cultural, social, economic, political and
spatial analysis in the effort to present holistic
responses to the growing complexities within the
design and production of the urban form
The BartIett Development Planning Unit
Development Planning Unit | The Bartlett | University College London
34 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EZ www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 1111 Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 1112
MSc Building and Urban
Design in Development
for more info and to apply: www.bartlett.ac.ucl.uk/dpu and then programmes, postgraduate, budd
overview Since 2008, the majority of
the worlds human population has lived in
urban areas. While such rapid urbanisa-
tion is substantially transforming the plan-
et, cities are fundamentally shaped by
neoliberal policies as well as exogenous
and marked-led transformative forces that
deepen the vulnerabilities of the urban
poor and other marginalised communities.
Thus the production, reproduction, and
transformation of urban space via meth-
ods that are socially, economically, and
environmentally just presents a complex
structure The structure of the course
devotes 75 per cent of the taught compo-
nents (90 credits) to the core module sub-
jects of Building and Urban Design and 25
per cent (30 credits) to an optional module
chosen from those available in the DPU
or the Bartlett. The core modules provide
the theoretical and methodological com-
ponents of the course while the optional
specialist modules allow students to exam-
ine different approaches and problems in
accordance with their own particular inter-
ests.
opportunities The interdisciplinary
programme is aimed at those profes-
sionals who are or would like to be en-
gaged with the built environment, but not
limited to architects. BUDD focuses on
taking a community-oriented, inclusive
and multidisciplinary approach to spatial
development based on critical design
perspectives. The scale of enquiry and
intervention span from the city scale to a
neighbourhood or even building scale.
The skills that the BUDD Course pro-
vides arise directly from these objec-
The practical and project-based module
offers the student the possibility to be en-
gaged in a studio-type exercise. It aims to
provide an opportunity for students to ac-
quire concepts and skills relating to devel-
opment, urban design and critical design
research, as well as more general skills
such as verbal, written and visual presen-
tation, analysis and synthesis.
The course involves overseas eld work
(undertaken in Cuba, Cyprus, India, Jor-
dan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, Pakistan,
Sri Lanka, Turkey and Thailand), a work-
shop in Europe and a design charrette
and extended urban design exercise in
London, that allows students to test criti-
cal design and research methods, putting
into practice the skills and techniques ac-
quired during the course.
tives and include a wide range of par-
ticipatory design and decision-making
tools. The theoretical and empirical
framework that underpins the course
is covered by the modules of the first
term, which are extended to a more
practical sphere during the second
term, but are really brought into their
own during the substantial field project
in the third.
The course equips graduates to be able
to work throughout the world across mul-
tiple sectors including:
- Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
- Aid and Development Agencies
- Community Organisations
- Local/National/International Governments
- Architectural and Urban Design ofces
course director
Dr Camillo Boano
other members of staff
Jorge Fiori, Dr Alexandre Apsan Frediani, William Hunter,
Dr Cassidy Johnson, Ruth McLeod, Dr Caroline Newton
core and optionaI moduIes
Transforming Local Areas: Urban Design for Development; Participatory Process:
Building for Development; Building and Urban Design in Practice (the BUDD
Studio); Housing Policy, Programme and Project Alternatives; Disaster Risk
Reduction in Cities; Post Disaster Recovery: Policies, Practices and Alternatives;
Critical Urbanism Studio - Learning from nformality; Critical Urbanism Studio -
nvestigative Design Strategies for Contested Spaces
challenge for architects, designers, engi-
neers, planners and development practi-
tioners.
The course is concerned with a holistic
process of spatial design for cities with-
in this contested context. It combines
the principles of designing for develop-
ment with an examination and analysis
of social, cultural, economic and politi-
cal components in the production of ur-
ban form.
The objective of the BUDD course is to
equip those interested in the development
of urban areas with a heightened and
nuanced comprehension of local needs,
abilities, aspirations, and forms of resist-
ance that urban dwellers display in vari-
ous contexts and scales - specically in
geographies of the global South.