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Faculty of Humanities

School of Environment, Education and Development

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Urban Studies MSc

Year of entry: 2025

Course length: 12 Months Full-Time | 24 Months Part-Time

About the course

As the proportion of the world’s population living in urban areas continues to grow, so do the challenges to secure an inclusive, just and sustainable set of futures. These challenges ask questions of traditional academic disciplines, such as anthropology, architecture, business studies, economics, geography, history, planning, political science and sociology. None are able to solve these challenges on their own. Instead, drawing upon concepts and methods from across these disciplines, the MSc in Urban Studies provides a sophisticated analysis and understanding of urbanisation. This interdisciplinary programme brings together a diverse set of analytic tools, research methods, and theories to better understand how cities are confronting these challenges. The compulsory course units are Critical Issues in Urban Studies, Researching the City, Policy and Politics in Action in Greater Manchester and Global Urban Futures. In addition to these compulsory units, you will choose complementary optional course units from a range of disciplines.

Academic Spotlight

Dr Caitlin Henry, Co-Programme Director for MSc Urban Studies. Caitlin is an urban and feminist geographer with interests in feminist political economy and health geography. Her research focuses on how crises – economic, social, political, and health – impact workers, cities, welfare states, and social life. Her current research focuses on two areas: the many impacts of health care restructuring in western welfare states and the geographies end of life care work in US and UK cities.

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School of Environment, Education and Development

Faculty of Humanities

The University of Manchester