Urban planning
Programmes launching in 2025 are MSc Urban Design and Planning and MSc Urban Planning with Smart Urban Analytics. Please check our website for the most up to date details.
Planning lies at the heart of many of the major challenges that face existing and future generations. With a history of international excellence in research and teaching, we’re working to solve the many challenges of today’s world.
Why choose our programmes?
- You will have the opportunity to actively participate in research throughout your studies through research grants awarded from local government foundations.
- You’ll learn from world-leading academics who teach both in the UK and Dubai, and are actively involved in innovative, cutting-edge research.
- Our graduates are highly sought after by major employers with 100% finding employment within six months.
How will you be taught?
Taught by leading researchers and practitioners, you’ll learn through a mix of lectures, seminars, site visits, lab classes and workshops. To embed in both local and international practice, teaching and workshops are delivered by local professionals and international consultants such as AECOM, WSP, JACOBS, SIEMENS, and more.
As part of the second semester, you will take part in a one week residential international field trip with travel and accommodation costs covered by us. During this trip, you will study themes relevant to various public life and urban issues and explore them in different cultural and urban contexts. This is an opportunity to work in teams with your peers and to research urban issues in a real-world setting.
From day one, we’ll encourage you to become an independent, self-motivated learner, both challenging and thinking for yourself.
Graduate career destinations have included:
With 100% of our graduates gaining employment within six months of completing their degree, our graduates work in various industries around the world including the USA and Australia.
Graduate career destinations have included:
- The Road and Transport Authority
- Government ministries
- Public sector roles
- Urban development firms
- Consultants (e.g. KMPG, McKinsey)
- Global organisations (e.g. the United Nations, World Bank)
Urban Planning MSc – 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time
What will you study?
Join the next generation of urban planners and solve some of the biggest challenges in urban societies. You’ll learn through a interdisciplinary approach, developing a range of knowledge and skills. These will include:
- The challenges in making urban areas sustainable, inclusive and healthy places, and the measures that can be taken.
- The opportunities and threats posed to urban areas by globalising trends, new technologies and the rapid rate of societal change.
- The impact of urban growth on the natural environment, such as atmospheric pollution, water quality and plastic pollution, plus all the steps being taken to address them.
- Changing living patterns in urban areas, the role and nature of migration, social polarisation, social disadvantage and spatial fragmentation — plus how the needs of diverse communities can be met.
Focused on international practice with a modern approach, MSc Urban Planning is structured to reflect key urban issues with a modern theoretical and practical lens, consisting of six compulsory modules.
- Sustainable Cities
- Smart Cities
- The Planner in Contemporary Societies
- Planning for Healthy Cities
- Urban Live (Research Design and International Fieldtrip)
- Urban design and Property Development (Design Studio)
In every area of your learning, we’ll focus on the real world. Using Dubai as an urban laboratory, all assessments will be authentic and involve living case studies. This will not only enhance your understanding, but give you the practical skills employers are looking for.
'Urban planning is a fascinating and impactful field, playing a crucial role in shaping the environments in which we live and work. The opportunity to have learned from knowledgeable professors was incredibly enriching, providing both theoretical foundations and practical insights into real-world challenges.'
Melika Moradi MSc Urban Planning