MASTERS BY COURSEWORK
Master of Urban Design
Melbourne City
In the face of rapid urban change, cities need design. This degree advances the role of design in shaping the future of cities through innovative approaches to urban-based practice.
What will future cities look like?
Urban Design is one of the key practices confronting critical issues affecting cities, such as the impacts of climate change, population growth, shifting workplaces, and transformations in industry, technology and infrastructure.
This masters program at RMIT provides you with a studio-based, multidisciplinary environment to engage these issues through project-based study.
Focus on design
You will focus intensively on the practice of design itself, developing advanced, specialised techniques for creative and collaborative work. Projects are curated around key sites of urban change locally and globally, and engage with the professional and community networks invested in their future.
You will learn to creatively integrate expertise from related urban disciplines into design proposals, promoting alternative models for future city-building. This program is designed to nurture designers who would like to advance their career and develop innovative approaches to their practice.
Multidisciplinary approach to learning
This program emerges from a legacy of urban-based design research, teaching and practice within RMIT's School of Architecture and Design.
The program is closely connected to RMIT's world-renowned programs in Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design. The program is also integrated with postgraduate coursework in the Schools of Property, Construction and Project Management (PCPM) and Urban Planning, offering a multidisciplinary laboratory for urban design research.
Based in Melbourne, we use the Australasian region as our primary territory of study. A series of international workshops at our campuses in Vietnam and Barcelona offer a global perspective and study experience, complemented by online lectorials in urban history, morphology and practice.
Please note: This program has a selection task.
International student visa holders can only study full-time.
2 years full-time
Please note: Master of Architecture or Master of Landscape Architecture (or equivalent) are eligible for advanced level entry into Year 2 of the program, completing the Master of Urban Design in 1 year full-time (or 2 years part-time).
Key focus of program
- The role of design in shaping cities, especially in the Australasian region
- Methods of design, research, collaboration and practice for urban-scale work
- Design responses to key drivers of urban change, such as climate, industry, technology and population
- Exploration of the role of urban design in shaping cities through unsolicited projects
- International experience and collaboration through intensive workshops in Asia, Australia and Europe
What you will study
- Speculative design proposals for urban sites through project-based work
- The innovation of tools we use to design and deliver diverse and responsive solutions for future growth of cities
- Developing innovative approaches to urban based design practice
- History and theory of Asian, European, Australian and global urbanism
- Travel to Vietnam, Melbourne and Barcelona for on-site workshops
- Coursework in Property Development (PCPM) and Urban Planning (School of Global, Urban and Social Studies)
RMIT offers a variety of learning and teaching approaches including lectures, seminars, studios, workshops, presentations, group discussions and syndicate work. These are primarily in English.
You will have access to the Learning Hub and other online and digital resources through the myRMIT student portal.
Ongoing assessment throughout the semester includes examinations, essays, reports, oral classes, presentations, group projects, research projects, laboratory projects and practical assignments.
RMIT University is committed to providing you with an education that strongly links formal learning with professional or vocational practice.
Integrating industry expertise into the Urban Design projects is a distinguishing feature of this program. The studio projects focus on key emerging or ongoing topics and are curated in collaboration with relevant professional, community and governmental bodies such as urban developers, project managers, urban planners, council members and research partners.
Teaching staff includes practising architects, landscape architects and urban designers, with adjunct and visiting staff from local and international practices. Links across Urban Development and Urban Planning programs provide a rich multidisciplinary network.
330 Swanston Street (cnr La Trobe Street)
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel. +61 3 9925 2260
Make an enquiry
Program and course information
Key content
Develop advanced creative strategies to transform urban environments.
Intensive design studios and on-site workshops in Vietnam, Melbourne and Barcelona allow you to work collaboratively in a global context.