The MA Urban Design is the design intensive masters for alternative urbanisms at UEL.

The School

The Architecture programmes in the School of Architecture and the Visual Arts [AVA] at the University of East London [UEL] are recognised as among the leaders in the UK and have a particular reputation for innovation in teaching and learning. Their character is recognisable in its ‘hands-on’ approach to architecture in a range of scales, working with the physical exploration and the processes of site and context. To expand on this preoccupation with the physical, the School also has a number of Computer Studios which explore more theoretical and virtual models of architecture and urban design.

Former UEL Architecture graduates have proceeded to win urban design competitions in Manchester, Germany, Estonia, Iceland and Japan. Members of staff have worked in urban design practices, locally and internationally. The teachers are abreast of current developments in the field and currently working on publications, conferences and other architectural and urban design projects.

The School of Architecture and the Visual Arts [AVA] in the Docklands is located in one of the largest and most diverse urban redevelopment areas of Europe, East London and the Thames Gateway. It takes advantage of the University’s London location with proximity to a wide range of urban cultures and development sites. With the support of planners and developers, the School has set-up collaborations with local communities through a series of workshops and other forms of participation.

The School recognises the opportunity to expand the offering of programmes to attract design professionals who wish to specialise in urban development locally, nationally and internationally through research by design. The aim of the programme is also to be the first step towards design based PhDs and Professional Doctorates within Architecture.

The Programme

The MA Urban Design is formerly known as the MA Alternative Urbanisms and is growing out of the School’s longstanding preoccupation with urban and landscape design locally and internationally. The programme is designed to develop intellectual and practical skills for urban designers, and through projects search for alternative solutions to complex urban situations and contexts.

The programme is informed by current local and international urban practice, but also emphasizes the development of intuition and processes to test and develop new forms of urbanisms in practice as well as questioning the current state of play. It welcomes students as fellow innovators in a programme that is both visionary and hands on in seeking to develop urban futures that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, distinctive and enjoyable.

The programme sets out to explore and develop new forms of urban practice in cities undergoing critical change, where conventional thinking struggles to respond to the uncertainty and necessity for imaginative thinking brought about by this condition. It aims to develop positions that are both specific and responding to the particularities of topographical, social, cultural, economic and political contexts. The programme is seeking to develop both practical and innovative urban design strategies and positions from the scale of urban regions and cities, through to neighbourhoods and building scales.

The programme explores diverse forms of communities and spatial practice, locally and internationally. Engaging directly with people, sites and critical contexts, aims at developing a more profound understanding and way of working. Building sustainable communities and participatory design processes require a variety of design methodologies, like the use of frameworks, time lines and the making of distinct places. Furthermore the programme will also examine the boundaries between urban and landscape practice, through emphasising their interdependence. The relationship of climate, weather and materiality in a particular urban territory may give rise to specific solutions to generic questions.

The programme aims to prepare students to work in different geographical settings, within different urban agendas and economies through working on live projects in collaboration with local and international agencies. It is building on the experience of the programme team as well as the individual students. The programme prepares students for work in the public or private sector.

Notions

• Cityness - Cities are our critical starting ground and ongoing territory. Cityness is hereby a form of being together and it is expressed in an interrelated matrix of cultural, social, spatial, environmental and time-based layers. By sharing space and spatial habit, cityness is more than the sum of its parts.
• Tectonic - Is the understanding of physical forces that have given rise to cities, a constructed and material reality.
• Tolerance - To be able to link, connect, and suture the parts together. The notion of tolerance is a measure of the articulation of physical details in architecture, as well as programmatically, and in terms of the degree of fit of the architectural proposition into an existing urban context. Tolerance is both a question of material; of technical precision and connected to political and social structures at a wider level.
• Process - Refers to both, the practice of urban design and the inherent time-based processes of the build environment. The way of doing things has a relationship with what we do and produce. Cities, human environments and subsequently urban designs are subject to different temporal modes and change.
• Participation - To have a share or to take part in a range of scales. It enables integrative social and spatial processes and addresses research, design, planning, decision making, building, inhabitation and management.

Organisation

The MA Urban Design forms part of an enriched Masters in Architecture programme within the School of Architecture and the Visual Arts, including MSc Computing & Design, MA Sustainability & Design, MA Interpretation and Theories, MSc Material Matters and the design intensive MA Landscape Architecture. The MA Urban Design takes advantage of this diverse expertise and ongoing interdisciplinary collaborations.

The programme is organised in two generic taught modules followed by the Thesis module. The taught Modules comprise a series of distinctive component options designed for each specific award. Students are able to choose options across the practice based components [component 2], based on the individual student’s interest and ability.

Subsequently, the MA Urban Design offers two integrated parts, the design intensive studio as well as the lecture and seminar series in urban theory. The Thesis work is self-directed and comprises individual designs and theoretical writings in an interdependent manner.

• research and develop intellectual and practical skills for urban designers, through design projects and theory
• seeking urban futures that are socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, distinctive and enjoyable
• being specific and responding to the particularities of places, sites and contexts
• explore and develop alternative forms of urban practice in cities and regions undergoing critical change
• develop both practical and innovative urban design strategies and positions
• designing in a range of scales, from urban geographies through to building scales
• engaging directly in diverse forms of communities and spatial practice, locally and internationally
• examine the boundaries between urban and landscape practice
• preparing for work in the public and private sector

The programme is particularly designed for already qualified design professionals who wish to specialise in urban development practice.

It welcomes applications from suitable candidates with an honours degree in architecture and/or RIBA Part 1 exemption, with a particular interest and ability to contribute to the development of urban designs and alternative urbanisms at an advanced level.

It also welcomes applications from candidates with a design based first degree with a particular interest and ability to contribute to the development of urban design at an advanced level.

Applications are welcomed from the EU and overseas, in particular, lecturers from Higher Education Institutions wishing to increase their qualifications.

This programme has also been designed to attract professionals from public sector and private practice who are seeking to upgrade their qualifications, or who are looking for the opportunity to validate aspects of their professional remit, or to research and develop internationally relevant urban issues that they have encountered in professional practice.

Students whose first language is not English will have achieved a score of 6.0 in IELTS or equivalent. Eligibility for students without degree equivalent qualifications will be assessed on the basis of a short essay, statement and a portfolio. Places will be offered after a successful interview with a member of the programme team. All applicants will be interviewed.

In the case of applicants whose first language is not English, then IELTS (or equivalent) is required. International qualifications will be checked for appropriate matriculation to UK Higher Education postgraduate programmes.

Students that apply to enter stages of the programme may be admitted through normal Accreditation of Experiential Learning (AEL) or Accreditation of Certificated Learning (ACL) processes, or through an approved articulation agreement. Therefore such applicants must be able to demonstrate and evidence that they have the required learning outcomes as listed in the modules for which they are seeking exemption.

The MA programme can be followed over twelve month full time (3 Semester) or twenty four months part time.

The programme is divided between studio-based practice, fieldwork, workshops, lectures and seminars. There are also visits and field trips. All students will be supported by tutorials at 1:1 and tutored group work. Students are expected to critically engage in academic work, be highly motivated and committed to design intensive and self-directed learning.

Presentations of work in progress in formal settings will provide opportunities for students to make measured judgements on the achievements and progression of both their own projects, and those of their peer group.

The School of Architecture and the Visual Arts on the Docklands Campus has excellent studios and there are extensive wood, casting and metal workshops, photographic darkrooms and computer suites. At the end of the academic year the students exhibit their work at the End of Year Show.

Postgraduate programmes strictly adhere to the University regulations on assessment. All coursework for assessment is double marked; portfolio work, practical 3d work, seminar papers and presentations as well as essay assignments are supervised and double marked.

The two taught programme modules are assessed through an essay/report and design portfolio and by the student’s contributions to seminar discussions and design exercises. The work culminates in the Masters Thesis, on a subject of the student’s choosing, within the wide parameters of the field.

A student must pass the two taught modules with a minimum overall average mark of 50% in order to begin the Thesis.

The MA Urban Design  provides a platform for the individual student to develop an expertise and an approach to urban sustainable developments through the development of urban design strategies and research that is sensitive to a local context. Students will have a conceptual framework for assessing claims to sustainability within urban contexts. As more and more emphasis is put on the importance of sustainable developments by governments and professional bodies, such knowledge and skills will be of increasing usefulness to the students in their professional lives.

The Thesis Project is the culmination of the students' work on the programme. The topic is the choice of the student, in consultation with his or her tutor, and normally developed through the project work in the first two modules, following group discussions on topics in the dissertation seminars.

Students will be able to

• focus their attention on an area of particular interest to them, in order to develop a specialised design approach that can support them in their career
• contribute to the development of new design based research and advanced study within urban design
• become familiar with the procedures and conventions of academic scholarship
• add to the body of knowledge within the field of urban design and urbanisms at a wider level
• gain experience in the compilation, ordering and interpretation of research and design, and the development of clear arguments
• develop writing and presentational skills
• develop conceptual skills and lateral thinking
• demonstrate hands on practical skills

The MA Urban Design is part of a new Masters structure that allows single and integrated programmes in Architecture, together with MSc Computing & Design, MSc Material Matters, MA Sustainability & Design, MA Interpretation & Theories and MA Landscape Architecture.

Students are able to select up to two components from the other masters programmes, subject to approval of the relevant programme team. Details of the available components are found in the relevant Programme Specification and the Masters Programme Handbook.

Architecture students are also able to take part of the programme as a component of their Professional Diploma studies.

The integration of environmental design with architectural and urban design practice is of ever-increasing importance. Architects and designers equipped with these skills are more and more in demand professionally in both the private and public sector.

The programme offers students a personal tutor, 1:1 tutorial support as well as support of small group working.

Personal Development Planning (PDP) is a University requirement to engage formally in reflective practice, through a learning log or a professional development portfolio. This includes creating and maintaining a continuously updated Curriculum Vitae (CV), a review of progress in modules, review of assessment outcomes and feedback, a semester based action plan and an annual submission of the PDP.

The University provides a comprehensive range of support services to students, which includes: residential/ student finance advice/ careers advise/ study skills development/ IT learning resources.

Full-time students will have the opportunity to participate in any suitable research activity the staff are pursuing in the field, acquiring practical skills and contributing to 'real world' work.

The programme’s location is in London, which has one of the most vibrant architectural cultures in the world: the programme staff are well connected in relation to London’s architectural institutions and personalities.