MRes Inter-disciplinary

Urban Design
UCL THE BARTLETT
Faculty of the Built Environment
The Bartlett offers a number of
programmes that from different
perspectives focus either
centrally or partially on the study
of urban design. Each programme
is distinctive, reflecting the
particular professional /
academic traditions within which
it is situated. The MRes Inter-
disciplinary Urban Design (IdUD)
is a cross-Faculty programme
that cuts across our existing
programmes, allowing students
to construct their study in an
Inter-disciplinary manner and
in doing so to explore urban
design as a critical arena for
advanced research and practice.
The programme operates both as
a stand alone high level masters,
or as a staging post for those
seeking to do further research
at PhD level. It is extremely
flexible, allowing students to
shape their own study agendas
whilst also offering the support
of one to one tuition from
an identified supervisor.
Programme objectives
This globally unique programme aims to:
1 Provide an Inter-disciplinary space
in which students can examine the
challenges of urban design from
comparative disciplinary perspectives
2 Expose students to the diversity
of urban design teaching and the
latest cutting edge research from
across the Bartlett and beyond
3 Provide the opportunity for
students to conduct a substantial
piece of individual urban design
research that draws on diverse
Inter-disciplinary knowledge
4 Train students in the use of
research methodologies appropriate
to the conduct of urban scale
research and critically informed
urban design practice.
The Bartlett: UCLs
Faculty of the Built
Environment
Within the Faculty, each academic section
of the Bartlett is active in the urban
design field with a wide range of PhD
researchers, funded research projects,
relevant masters level programmes,
active relevant seminar programmes
and social networks. This means there
are almost 50 members of staff, across
the Bartlett who are either engaged
directly in urban design teaching /
research, or for whom the concerns of
urban design form a critical dimension
of the area within which they work.
Depending on their selection of feeder
courses in Module 1 (see below), students
will be exposed to different academic
and research staff, and at some point
in their studies they should be exposed
to most urban design and urban design
related staff from across the Bartlett and
the different academic, professional and
research traditions they represent. Whilst
students will feel a strong engagement
and identification with the MRes IdUD
specifically, they will also have access
to the much larger set of resources and
activities represented by the Faculty at
large and its individual academic centres.
During their studies students will have
particularly close contact with the
Programme Director and their allocated
supervisor; the latter drawn from the
Bartlett academic staff. The Programme
Director is responsible for the day to
day running of the programme, for
its academic direction and for the
academic progression and welfare of
its students. Their supervisor will work
with students on the preparation of their
research proposal (during module 1)
and eventually on their Urban Design
Research Project (module 2).
In addition, PhD students studying
urban design within the Faculty act as
mentors for new MRes students, helping
them to progress and assisting in their
full engagement with the programme,
School, Faculty and College.
MRes Inter-disciplinary
Urban Design (IdUD)
Programme structure
and content
The MRes Inter-disciplinary Urban
Design (IdUD) is a Faculty-wide
programme, and through it students
will be able to tap into perhaps the
largest global concentration of urban
design related researchers and
professional expertise found anywhere
in the world. The programme has a
simple and highly flexible structure,
designed to allow students, with the
support of the Programme Drector and
a designated MRes supervisor, to tailor
their own learning in order to reflect
both their own background, and how
they wish to specialise in the future.
The MRes IdUD consists of three
modules amounting to 180 credits.
BENVGID1: Inter-disciplinary
urban design
This module draws from a range of
named feeder modules from across
the Bartlett and UCL, each of which
explores the broad territory of urban
design from a different perspective. This
black box of elements is given shape
by students themselves who select
components: i) according to their own
academic backgrounds and professional
experiences so as to further develop
their knowledge, skills and aptitudes
in-depth, ii) in order to understand the
academic / disciplinary lens through
which the material of the module is
taught as a means to develop a cross-
disciplinary perspective on the study
of urban design, and iii) as a means to
gain in-depth understanding of methods
and approaches to the study of urban
design that will be relevant / appropriate
to their own individual research projects.
75 credits of modules should normally
be chosen, ideally from at least three
different parts of the Bartlett / UCL.
Term 1 Term 2 Term 3 Summer
MRes IdUD
Feeder courses into BENVGID1
include (although are not limited to):
BENVUD1 History and Theory of Urban
Design
BENVUD2 Strategic Urban Design
BENVUD3 Detailed Urban Design
BENVGBU1 Transforming Local Areas:
Urban Design for Development
BENVGBU2 Participatory Process:
Building for Development
BENVGBU8/9 Critical Urbanism
Studios
BENVGAAD Design as a Knowledge-
Based Process
BENVGAAJ Adaptable Cities
BENVGAAF Principles of Analytical
Design
BENVGAAG Spatial Cultures
BENVGAAI Architectural Phenomena
BENVGAAH Spatial Justice
BENVGPLC Urban Design:
Place-Making
BENVGTC2 Urban Design: Product,
Process and Critique
BENVGTC4 Urban Design: Guidance,
Incentive and Control
BENVGSU3 Sustainable Urban Design
BENVGSA5 Knowledge & Power: The
Fundamentals of Research
BENVGEEH Sustainable Housing
Design: Principles
T26 Urban Street Planning & Design
BENVGEEC Environmental
Masterplanning
BENVGAH2 The Representation of
Cities
BENVGAH4 Theorising Practices:
Architecture, Art & Urbanism
URBNG003 Creative Cities
URBNG004 Asian Cities in the
Globalising South: Comparative
Lessons from India and China
URBNG005 Public Space & the City
URBNG007 Community Participation in
City Strategies
URBNG009 London: Aspects of
Change
BENVGAAE Buildings, Organisations
and Networks
BENVGPLD From Strategic Vision to
Urban Plan
BENVGACK Embedded and Embodied
Technologies, Cities as Interface
Inter-disciplinary
urban design
(75 credits)
A minimum of 75 credits of feeder
modules should be chosen from
the pre-approved list (or any other
module approved by the Programme
Director). Ideally these should be
selected from at least three different
parts of The Bartlett/UCL.
Urban investigations
(30 credits)
Urban
design
research
project
(75 credits)
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Because the combination of feeder
modules will vary from student to student,
so will the methods of delivery. However,
a typical student might encounter studio
teaching, formal lectures, analytical
modelling, small group tutorials and
discussion, formal presentations,
site visits, and a wide range of other
diverse teaching techniques.
Assessment of the module will be
through two means. First, the combined
final assessment for each feeder course,
weighted by credit allowance, will
together constitute 60% of the module
mark. Second, a 4,000 word research
proposal, drawing from the various Inter-
disciplinary studies. This will constitute
the remaining 40% of the final mark. This
work will be supported by a designated
MRes supervisor for each student.
Learning outcomes
1 The development of in-depth
knowledge and skills in urban
design and the development of
aptitudes to urban design as an
Inter-disciplinary research arena
2 An understanding of the academic /
disciplinary lenses through which
the component parts of the module
are taught as a means to develop a
cross-disciplinary perspective on the
study and practice of urban design
3 An in-depth understanding of methods
and approaches that will be relevant /
appropriate to the understanding
of complex urban problems
Note: The final course selection will
need to be approved by the Programme
Director, including any modules from
outside of this list. Final combinations will
also be subject to timetable constraints
which vary from year to year.
BENVGID2: Urban design
research project
A second module feeds from the first.
This module provides students with the
opportunity to conduct a major individual
research project that explores the nature
of urban design as an Inter-disciplinary
research subject, and as a key dimension
of understanding and unlocking complex
urban problems. The module provides
students with the opportunity to conduct
a major individual research project of at
least 15,000 words or 10,000 words and
a major research-based design proposal.
This work should normally develop
out of the research proposal prepared
at the conclusion of Module 1: Inter-
disciplinary Urban Design, and, whilst
a student-driven exercise, will be
closely supervised by an allocated
supervisor and the Programme
Director (as a secondary supervisor).
The module will commence with a
weekend retreat away from UCL,
providing participants with an opportunity
to present, discuss and refine their
research proposals. It will culminate
in a viva oral examination attended
by both supervisors and forming part
of the formal examination process.
Learning outcomes
1 The preparation and execution of
a complex research-based urban
project with a focus on one or more
urban problems requiring an Inter-
disciplinary urban design perspective
2 The application of appropriate
design and/or research-based
methodologies to the resolution
of a complex urban problem
3 The understanding and engagement
with relevant theories and professional
research methods to frame,
analyse and address the identified
urban design research project
BENVGID3: Urban investigations
This module does two things. First,
it provides students on the MRes a
weekly opportunity to get together,
and through exposure to the series of
urban scale research projects being
conducted at UCL (and elsewhere)
discuss and experiment with the
latest urban research methodologies.
Because projects will vary from year
to year, no fixed formal syllabus is set,
although discussions will range across:
Philosophical explorations using
theory and critique to understand
urban design processes and
outcomes and the rationale, purpose
and nature of urban design
Process investigations focusing on
the normative and potential systems,
tools, procedures and networks that
shape the outcomes of urban design
Physical modelling through a range
of scientific studies in which the form and
configuration of space is examined as the
physical product of urban design and the
container for use and flows of resource
Propositional experiments studio-
based research and pedagogical
investigation using design process
and creative speculations to
reveal responses to defined urban
problems and problematics
Performance enquiries through
direct and indirect anthropological
investigation and stakeholder discourse,
examining the nature of space-in-use
Second, the module will provide a
showcase of UCLs engagement with
urban design and urban scale research
offering students the opportunity to
interact with the full range of UCLs
urban design active / interested staff.
In doing so it will expose students
to the full range of transferable skills
expected of MRes students.
Teaching will largely be conducted
as a weekly lecture followed by a
small group seminar. Examination
will be through completion of a 4,000
word essay and a series of quick-fire
methodological exercises (equivalent
to a second 4,000 word essay).
Learning outcomes
1 An in-depth understanding of
methods and approaches to the
study of urban design and allied
research areas that will be relevant /
appropriate to the understanding
of complex urban problems
2 Training in methodologies appropriate
to the conduct of urban design
and urban scaled research
3 Appreciation of the full range
of transferable research skills
appropriate to urban scale research
Design by by www.perfect-bound.co.uk February 2013
Application Procedures
You can obtain further details about
the application process, make an
on-line application or download
an application form from UCLs
application webpage: www.ucl.ac.uk/
prospective-students/graduate-study/
application-admission/apply-online/.
The UCL admissions procedure for
MRes applications normally takes
anywhere between four and twelve
weeks. There is currently no deadline
for receipt of applications to this course.
However, applicants should be aware
that UCL now closes its admissions
system in early August each year so
that all applications received can be
processed, and offers made where
appropriate, before the beginning of the
next academic year. Applications are
considered and decisions on offers of
admission are arrived at in the order that
applications are received so applicants
are advised to apply earlier rather than
later. Once offers of admission have
been issued for all the places available
on the course it is normally no longer
possible to issue any further offers.
Entry Qualifications
Applicants to the programme will
be expected to have a good 2/1
undergraduate degree (or its international
equivalent) in a cognate discipline or a
relevant masters degree. The English
language minimum for this programme
is an overall IELTS grade of 7.5 with
a minimum of 6.5 in each subtest.
Programme Fees
Programme Fees are fixed annually
by University College London and are
therefore subject to modification. Fees
for the 2013-2014 session (per annum)
are likely to be in the region of:
MRes Full-time
EU students 8,750
Non-EU students 18,500
Students taking the course part-time
or those taking individual modules on
a CPD basis are charged fees on a
pro-rata scale. The on-line prospectus
for University College London contains
further advice on fees, the cost of
living in London and on financial
matters including student hardship
grants. The Faculty and the Bartlett
School of Planning are likely to provide
bursaries aimed at enhancing access
and recognising academic excellence
for the 2013-2014 session. Information
will be provided on the Faculty and
School web-pages in due course.
MRes Director: Prof Matthew Carmona
Admissions Tutor: To be confirmed
Further information on UCL graduate
programmes can be found at:
www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-
students/graduate-study.
Further details on the range of
urban design and urban design
related programmes available at
the Bartlett can be found at www.
bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/urbandesign
The online application page for
UCL is located at: www.ucl.ac.uk/
prospective-students/graduate-study/
application-admission/apply-online/
Term Dates
A thirty-week academic year is followed.
Although term dates vary from year to year,
academic years commence towards the end
of September with three terms of twelve,
eleven and seven weeks respectively. Terms
One and Two each contain a reading week.
Written examinations are held early in term 3.
Career Opportunities
The MRes Inter-disciplinary Urban Design
(IdUD) is a globally unique high level
masters degree. With its emphasis on the
power of urban design, its belief in inter-
disciplinarity, and its use of questioning
research methodologies, the programme
opens up a range of future opportunities
for participants along two primary paths:
First, it provides an opportunity for students
seeking to further their professional careers,
to specialise in urban design, and, even
within that broad arena, to engage deeply
within a particular research agenda of direct
relevance to their future professional practice.
In this regard the programme emphasises
and imparts an analytical and questioning
approach to the professional discipline
and to its urban problems that will allow
participants to become more incisive and
penetrating in their own professional work.
Second, for students seeking a research or
academic career, the MRes provides the ideal
training for a PhD and eventually for a move
to an academic or other research position. In
this regard the MRes can help to both define
an appropriate study at PhD level whilst also
streamlining the conduct of a PhD itself,
through imparting advanced research methods
training and, through the preparation of the
Urban Design Research Project (module 2),
providing a direct feed into a future PhD.
The programme is founded on the belief that in
urban design a research perspective provides
a critical dimension of advanced professional
practice whilst better practice is the worthy
ultimate goal of good urban research.
Disclaimer
The information contained in this leaflet is
correct a the time of its publication, but no
guarantee can be given that it will not be
amended before the commencement of, or
during, the programme to which it refers.