The programme is specifically focused on studying how urban design approaches respond to contemporary urban transformations, as often characterised by forms of urban restructuring in the global north, and rapid urban expansion in the global south. The city of Edinburgh offers an urban laboratory for exploration of current urban design issues. The city’s historic ‘Geddesian’ planning links, and contemporary international links with urban-focused institutions and bodies, particularly in the global south, provide a good platform from which to support student-led, location-based dissertations. The programme seeks to address the gap between architecturally driven urban design and higher-level, spatial planning-driven, urban design, bringing together a range of approaches relevant to urban design that are currently being developed within different professional and disciplinary practices, ranging from engineering to human geography.

Career opportunities at local, national and international levels can be pursued in architecture, planning, landscape architecture, the voluntary urban aid sector, geography, or urban development. There is also the opportunity for further academic research to doctoral level.