Urban Design and International Planning MSc
Year of entry: 2026
Course length: 12 Months Full-Time
This MSc offers a specialist focus on the dynamic relationship between urban design and planning, addressing critical issues of global significance.
Fully accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), the programme equips you with the essential knowledge and professional competencies required to become a chartered planner, with a unique specialism in urban design and international planning.
Designed to reflect your career goals, the course allows you to customise your learning through a wide selection of optional units. You’ll develop practical skills to craft comprehensive urban design proposals that work effectively across different scales and diverse international contexts.
Whether you aim to influence cities locally or globally, this MSc prepares you to deliver innovative, sustainable, and context-sensitive urban design solutions.
Fieldtrip
This course normally includes a week-long overseas fieldtrip. The course fee covers the cost of this overseas field visit. Past locations include Barcelona, Amsterdam, Dublin, Seattle, Toronto, and Vienna.
Top 5
Join a Planning department ranked 2nd in the UK and 5th in the world (QS World Rankings by Subject 2026).
Join an active community
Be an active part of the Manchester Urban Design LAB (MUD-Lab) and benefit from its wide range of resources including bespoke urban design toolkits, tutorials, events, and world-leading research on applied urban design.
Jo's story
MSc Urban Design and International Planning alumna
Jo talks about how the course benefitted her career development:
“My highlight of the course has been growing in skill and confidence in an area of work and study that I really enjoy. The design-based modules which took place in the studio were my favourite as I got to put into practice what I had learnt in lectures.”
