Urban Design

What is this course about?
Cities are the most complex of human inventions and their design rests on knowledge that spans from philosophy and aesthetics to ecology and the technologies of waste disposal. They are also intensely cultural. In recent times, the professions of architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning have been the most conspicuous contributors to the shaping of cities. Urban design is at the nexus between these professions. The ability to perform in the field rest on additional layers of knowledge and understanding of the built form in its cultural and ecological complexities at urban scales of resolution.

It thus draws people from architecture, landscape architecture and the physical wing of urban planning, as well as related areas such as civil engineering, and extends their knowledge and skill base. The Urban Designer must be an astute observer, recorder and analyst of changes in built form at a range of scales, skilled in shaping it, and effective in communicating both physical change and design proposals. Urban design extends graduates from the established design professions into new and challenging conceptual territory – at scales that range from streets, urban blocks and small urban spaces to mega-structures and urban structure.

The Urban Design program at this faculty was one of the first in Australasia and has built an excellent reputation, producing informed and skilled graduates who work on all continents in design, management and teaching roles. Also, the faculty is a leader in offering expertise on urban design and urbanism in East Asia. At the same time, it allows students from international backgrounds to understand urban design in an Australian (largely Western) context.

At the heart of the program is the Urban Design Studio, which allows students to synthesize their background professional expertise with new urban design knowledge and skills. The latter are drawn from the program’s Core subjects, which cover vital historical and theoretical dimensions of urbanism and design, urban morphological investigation, and the relationship between ecological processes and city form.

What is the outcome of this course?
Graduates of the program occupy important urban design private and public sector positions in cities across Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Australia-New Zealand.

Program Coordinator: Mr Barrie Shelton

Admission Requirements

To apply, you should hold a professional degree in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning or a closely related design area and submit a portfolio of work with your application. Your portfolio should show several examples of design and design-related work completed as part of your university studies and/or samples of work from professional or equivalent experience (preferably both). Further, your particular role in producing each item of submitted work should be made clear. The portfolio must be on paper only, consist of approximately 10 A4 or A3 sheets, and include drawings and other relevant items of illustration such as photographs of models, with supporting explanation.

Program Aims

Good urban design depends on the abilities to:

recognise and define urban design problems
investigate the evolution, structure, form and character of urban places,
draw ideas, knowledge and skills from a range of disciplines and apply these to urban projects
generate strong, purposeful and visionary urban design initiatives (concepts, policies, plans, guidelines, etc),
evaluate urban design programs, proposals and built works,
work successfully in interdisciplinary design teams and with private and public organisations and communities.
present urban design proposals and information in clear, convincing and innovatory ways,
appreciate cultural differences and work across national frontiers, and
keep abreast with current urban design issues and ideas.

The graduate urban design program is arranged to achieve these ends - with the studio project as the central activity. It offers three types of units: Core Units, Options and Electives.

Note that it is also possible to undertake combined 'Architectural and Urban Design' and 'Urban Design and Planning' degrees - see Master of Architecture (Architectural and Urban Design) and Master of Urban Design (Urban Design and Planning).

Core Units of Study

Total credit points required

Graduate Certificate 24
Core 18, Options 0, Electives 6
Graduate Diploma 48
Core 36, Options 0, Electives 12
Master 72
Core 54, Options 0, Electives 18

Urban Environment
PLAN 9065, 6 credit points, semester 1, classes: weekly

Urban Design – Ideas & Methods
ARCH 9062, 6 credit points, semester 1, classes: weekly

Urban Design Studio A
Urban Design Studio B
ARCH 9001 (A), ARCH 9002 (B), 12 credit points, semester 1 & 2, classes: weekly

Urban Design Report
ARCH 9060, 12 credit points, semester 1 & 2, classes: monthly and individual appointment

Urban Morphology
ARCH 9063, 6 credit points, semester 2, classes: weekly

Electives

Electives
Students are encouraged to choose electives from any graduate program within the faculty. Students must refer to the web for timetables.

Students commencing in July semester should note that some units have prerequisite units offered in March semester. This may affect enrolment choice. Students should consult the student admissions coordinator Viena Phanekham () to ensure their length of candidature will not be affected.

Just want to study one unit of study as professional development?

For Professional Development courses click here

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Research Opportunities

Opportunity for limited research occurs within the Master of Urban Design program by way of the Urban Design Report (ARCH 9060, see above).

However, those wishing to pursue urban design research in greater depth should consider opportunities offered by the Faculty's higher degree programs - Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy. Here, the Faculty has a broad range of specialist staff and a wide spectrum of urban design-related topics can be covered - urban lighting, ecological aspects of urban design, computing and urban design, and urban conservation are a few examples. Specialist strengths include urban design history and theory, urban morphology, East Asian (especially Japanese) urbanism, architecture and the city, and the techniques and role of urban design within planning. For more information see www.arch.usyd.edu.au/research/index.shtml

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Scholarships

For scholarships click here

Career Scope

Urban design abilities are needed at all levels of government (especially in local authorities and at state level), in private consulting firms and development organisations - where there are needs to prepare and evaluate urban design policies, strategies, frameworks, guidelines, concepts, master plans and programs, as well as carry out more detailed design of urban spaces. Urban design skills and knowledge also assist in designing for specific sites through a better understanding of context, are much needed in the field of development evaluation, and can enhance perspectives on urban conservation. There is also a small but growing demand for urban design educators and media commentators.
Graduates of the Master of Urban Design program at the University of Sydney occupy urban design positions in all of the above sectors (many of them at very senior levels) in cities and towns across Australia and elsewhere, especially in East and Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Europe.

Career Profile

Mark Tyrell
Urban Design Graduate

Can you tell us about your work history?
I have worked as a landscape architect for about eight years, attempting to experience as much variety in the profession as possible early on in my career. This took me from The NSW Government Architects Office, to a mid sized firm called LDA Design in London for several years and to the large multi-disciplinary firm HASSELL working on projects in Sydney and Brisbane. Over this time I have become more involved with the university program and my own studio too. Currently I teach and tutor in five courses at the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales.

What attracted you to this degree?
During time spent travelling in the Americas, Europe and Asia after my undergraduate degree, I was also reading books about landscape urbanism, politics and the growth of the world’s urban population. I spent a lot of time experiencing different cities, sketching and writing about how they worked and where they failed. I realized that although I knew about ecology and landscape architectural form, there was a large gap in my understanding regarding the historical and current context of urban areas on a broader scale. I recall it was a choice between a masters of economics or urban design. Of course design won.

Did you have any expectations of what the course would provide you in terms of your career?
When I started the course, I knew that it would add strength to my design work as a landscape architect. At the same time, I had seen a great deal of the fallout of rapid urbanization in many developing and so called developed countries such as urban poverty and environmental degradation. I hoped that the course would enable me to work at a scale more relevant to the problems I had seen.

Was there any part of the course you particularly enjoyed?
Generally, I appreciated the way the course focussed on physical design of city form and the use of diagrams rather than words to communicate ideas. I think these are essential skills for any designer. I particularly enjoyed two subjects in the course. The first was the ‘ideas and methods’ unit. This offered a comprehensive history of the designers, theories and physical schemes that have shaped the worlds cities. Whilst there is always more to learn, the course filled a gap in my knowledge and provided a lens through which to understand city form and also to know where to look for further answers.

The most challenging and enjoyable part of the course for me though was the Urban Design Report. This is an independent, research led project. It is up to the student to propose their own area of urban design study and or design. My topic was ‘Urban Design for Capacity Development in Informal Settlements’. I focussed on developing an urban design methodology and case study design project that was not top down but rather represented democratic visioning of the city by and for its poorest residents. There are now over one billion urban slum dwellers globally and we need to work hard in all fields for more equality.

The degree allowed flexibility in electives - this allowed me to undertake a relevant subject in development from the faculty of international law and also participate in the global studio in Johannesburg which works on the ground with slum dwellers.

On the completion of the course, did you use the knowledge you acquired professionally?
All the way through the course I was working as a designer. I found that even as I studied, things I learnt influenced and improved my personal design process. The course enabled me to become much more agile as a city designer, helping me to design at several different scales simultaneously, an important skill when dealing with the complexities of the urban environment. Also, through subsequent years of work with the global studio in Johannesburg, the study undertaken for my urban design dissertation has contributed to a redirection of some of the strategies for the development of a major urban slum in that city.

Is there any advice you’d give potential students contemplating the course?
If you are a designer who wants to work on projects relevant to the major challenges of the world, this course is a very good option. Urban Design is a growing field, very complicated and challenging but now more than ever relevant to the everyday life of most of the worlds citizens. Urban Design has become a kind of ‘buzz title’ for architects of late which is interesting, but there are many professional misconceptions that it is simply the title for large scale architectural schemes or is more planning focussed. This course will offer you the insight and the intellectual freedom that enables your design work to become so much more.