Urban Design

Aerial shot of a landscape with rivers and urban areas
URBAN DESIGN
HOW TO APPLY

The Graduate Program in Urban Design at The University of Texas at Austin offers students the opportunity to develop skills working at the urban scale while engaging in applied research on the culture of cities. As the world becomes more urbanized and the dilemmas more complex, urban designers will play a critical role in manifesting an ethical agenda for urban life, directing urban development outcomes, aspiring to improve the human condition, and leading the way toward a healthy future. Urban design's agency, reconciling the spatial implications of multiple disciplinary perspectives, brings qualitative value to the places we inhabit. 

The program is designed for post-professional students with an educational background in architecture or landscape architecture and leads to a Master of Science in Urban Design (MSUD). Students without a professional design degree, or those who wish to expand their professional expertise, may follow the dual-degree curriculum shared between the Master of Science in Urban Design and the Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning (MSCRP).

The program brings together an international cohort of faculty and students working globally on issues ranging from climate change to fair housing. Students in the program come from countries ranging from Peru, Spain, India, Russia, China, and South Korea. The program's STEM designation from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board enables additional professional opportunities for international students.

The program is fortunate to have received generous support from The Sinclair Black Endowed Excellence Fund for Urban Design. This endowment enhances the research opportunities available to students and faculty in the program by funding travel studios, sponsoring visiting critics and lecturers, and providing individual research and publication opportunities for students.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Urban Agencies—Projections for the Contemporary City cover

Urban Agencies - Projections for the Contemporary City

The Stack

URBAN LAND INSTITUTE GERALD HINES STUDENT COMPETITION

TUF Lab Logo

TEXAS URBAN FUTURES LAB

URBAN DESIGN

DEGREES + PROGRAMS

The Urban Design Program at the University of Texas as Austin offers two graduate-level degree programs and a certificate in Urban Design.  

GRADUATE CERTIFICATES

Master of Science in Urban Design [MSUD] 

MSUD + Master of Science in Community & Regional Planning 

Housing & Urbanism Certificate

URBAN DESIGN STUDENT WORK

  • Instagram Post
    Visiting the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid to see Picasso’s Guernica leads to a collection of original drawings from utopian visions of the late 19th and early 20th century_Soria Y Mata, Cerda, Garnier,  Sert and GATPAC!
    @utaustin_urbandesign

    Visiting the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid to see Picasso’s Guernica leads to a collection of original drawings from utopian visions of the late 19th and early 20th century_Soria Y Mata, Cerda, Garnier, Sert and GATPAC!

  • Instagram Post
    Public life in Madrid #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #madrid
    @utaustin_urbandesign

    Public life in Madrid #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #madrid

  • Instagram Post
    Last day in Seville with the joint urban design/architecture/landscape architecture studio taught by Professors Dean Almy and Kevin Alter. Visit to the Alcazar and gardens. #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #utsoalandscapearchitecture #seville #alcázar
    @utaustin_urbandesign

    Last day in Seville with the joint urban design/architecture/landscape architecture studio taught by Professors Dean Almy and Kevin Alter. Visit to the Alcazar and gardens. #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #utsoalandscapearchitecture #seville #alcázar

  • Instagram Post
    Thank you to Professors Carlos Tapia Martin and Grahame Shane for 5 days of wonderful lectures on Recombinant Urbanism, Housing, and Climate Response at the Universidad de Sevilla. #udtexas #utsoa #utsoacrp #utsoalandscapearchitecture #utsoatravel
    @utaustin_urbandesign

    Thank you to Professors Carlos Tapia Martin and Grahame Shane for 5 days of wonderful lectures on Recombinant Urbanism, Housing, and Climate Response at the Universidad de Sevilla. #udtexas #utsoa #utsoacrp #utsoalandscapearchitecture #utsoatravel

  • Instagram Post
    Visit to the office of Guillermo Vasquez Consuegro. #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #utsoatravel #vasquezconsuegra
    @utaustin_urbandesign

    Visit to the office of Guillermo Vasquez Consuegro. #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #utsoatravel #vasquezconsuegra

  • Instagram Post
    Students from the joint Seville studio visit the office of Guillermo Vásquez Consuegra, with a special treat: personal tour of the renovations of the ancient shipyard with walls dating back to the 11th century Moors.
    @utaustin_urbandesign

    Students from the joint Seville studio visit the office of Guillermo Vásquez Consuegra, with a special treat: personal tour of the renovations of the ancient shipyard with walls dating back to the 11th century Moors.

  • Instagram Post
    Cordoba_Center for Contempory Art-Nieto Sobejano Architects#udtexas #utsoa #nietosobejano #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp
    @utaustin_urbandesign

    Cordoba_Center for Contempory Art-Nieto Sobejano Architects#udtexas #utsoa #nietosobejano #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp

  • Instagram Post
    Visit to the great mosque of cordoba and the courtyard of the orange trees. #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #utsoalandscapearchitecture #córdoba
    @utaustin_urbandesign

    Visit to the great mosque of cordoba and the courtyard of the orange trees. #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #utsoalandscapearchitecture #córdoba

  • Instagram Post
    Day excursion to Cordoba with students on the way to visit the great mosque and courtyard of the orange trees. Urban morphology #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #córdoba
    @utaustin_urbandesign

    Day excursion to Cordoba with students on the way to visit the great mosque and courtyard of the orange trees. Urban morphology #udtexas #utsoa #utsoalandscape #utsoacrp #córdoba