Master of Urban Design
Blended learning – on-campus and digital learning
Our Master of Urban Design equips you with concepts and skills that will future-proof your career as an urban designer, project manager or urban planner. Graduates from our Master of Architecture and Urban Design can also pursue careers in architecture.
Urban Design is about shaping urban environments across a range of scales — from individual buildings and streets to neighbourhoods, suburbs and entire cities and their wider regions. Through a future-focused, design-led approach, you’ll gain in-depth knowledge of how transport, community, environment, economy and policy fit together to make the healthy, inclusive, culturally-significant and sustainable places we can all call ‘home’.
Use cutting-edge tech to master visual communication and data/urban analytics skills while develop your spatial thinking skills by combining architectural, creative and evidence-based approaches to urban challenges. You’ll get to engage with industry experts and tackle real-world issues like designing for the future health, sustainable mobility and resilience of cities.
Our students love the positive opportunity Urban Design provides for thinking in more integrated ways about places.
Information sessions
Find out how you can meet us in your home country or in Australia. Every international student application is considered for a scholarship
Whether you’re living in Australia or overseas, you’re automatically considered for a scholarship of up to 30% off your course fees. Please check our updated entry requirements.
Duration
2 Year/s
Intakes
Hawthorn (Semester 1, Semester 2) - View application and start dates
CRICOS code
098497D
Fees
A$39120 (annual for 2023)*
The indicative course fees shown in Course Search apply to international students for the relevant year only. They are based on a standard study load per year. However, please note that fees are assessed according to a student's study load in each semester, and variation to study load will result in an adjustment to tuition fees. All fees are subject to annual review and may be adjusted.
Course information in detail
- Course detail, course structure and units of study.
Course description
The Master of Urban Design focuses on designing for healthy city futures by embracing creative and speculative design thinking; cross-disciplinarity; alongside engagement with people, data and advanced technologies. Cities are growing at an unprecedented rate with over fifty per cent of the world’s population now living in cities. This mass urbanisation presents urgent challenges, such as accommodating dense populations, responding to climate change, public health, housing affordability, urban mobility, and growing spatial complexity. These challenges cannot be addressed using traditional twentieth century urban planning methods – new multi-dimensional approaches are needed by professionals that embrace three-dimensional space, big-data along with change over time, temperature, humidity, shade, air quality, land-use, safety, alongside economic, environmental, social and cultural aspects of the city.
Graduates will have skills and knowledge to respond to these challenges and be prepared to make meaningful contributions in careers as urban designers in private practices including urban design, architecture, landscape architecture, and planning practices as well as local government positions in planning authorities and local city councils.
International students in Australia who hold student visas are required to study full-time and on campus. Courses that are taught entirely online are only available to international students studying outside Australia or those in Australia who are not on a student visa. Online courses are not available to international students in Australia who hold a student visa.
Course structure
To qualify for the award of Master of Urban Design, students must complete 200 credit points:
- 9 core units (162.5 credit points)
- 3 elective units (37.5 credit points)
Maximum Academic Credit
The maximum level of credit that can be granted for the Master of Urban Design is 100 credit points (normally eight units)
The maximum level of credit that can be granted for the Master of Urban Design is 100 credit points (normally eight units)
Units of study
Core units
Students must complete the following nine units of study:
ARC70001 Design Research Studio A (25 credit points)
ARC70003 Design Research Studio B (25 credit points)
ARC80003 Design Research Studio D(25 credit points) *
ARC80007 Planning Law, Strategic and Statutory Planning *
ARC80007 Planning Law, Strategic and Statutory Planning *
Elective units
Students must complete three electives (37.5 credit points) from the following list or any general postgraduate electives from elsewhere in the university:
DDD60003 Digital Sketching and Ideation
DDD80012 DFM Toolbox: Innovation and Interdisciplinary Collaboration 1
CVE80003 Transport Planning, Modelling and Economics
Studio 2: Design Principles (DDD60011)
* Outcome units - matched exemptions are generally not granted for higher education outcome units.
Careers and graduate outcomes
- Career opportunities and course aims and objectives.
Career opportunities
Master of Urban Design graduates will be knowledgeable about contemporary urban design thinking and be skilled in cutting edge urban analysis and design technology. Urban design and strategic planning skills are highly sought after in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The course’s emphasis upon urban information, data and modelling situates our graduates in a highly competitive position to attain work locally and globally in areas such as:
- private practices including: urban design practices, architecture practices, landscape architecture practices, and planning practices
- local government: planning authorities and local city councils.
The Master of Urban Design course will embed authentic learning experiences, such as real-world project briefs in design studio, enabling students to get the experience and develop the competencies most in demand. This course also aims to develop pathways for students from and into related fields, such as planning, architecture, and landscape architecture.
Aims and objectives
Students who successfully complete the Master of Urban Design will be able to apply specialised knowledge in Urban Design to demonstrate discipline specific, knowledge, skills and attributes. Specifically, they will be able to:
- critically reflect on and apply knowledge of contemporary urban design theory and practice demonstrating comprehension of international and local planning theory and history, planning law and statutory planning, urban economics, sustainability, land use and urban design, and strategic planning
- apply analytical design research methods with an understanding of sourcing credible, relevant data to investigate, analyse and synthesise complex information, problems, concepts and theories and apply these to the broader social, economic and environmental urban processes
- apply creative spatial thinking and innovation approaches in a range of settings and scales while critically presenting design ideas and research results to explain, interpret and evaluate the impact of a specific complex Urban Design solution
- communicate clearly and concisely using a range of media to present, explain, and interpret design propositions, methodologies, conclusions, professional decisions and urban analysis to diverse audiences
- apply technical design modelling and planning skills to research, analyse, design, and evaluate plans, policies, strategies and guidelines, land uses allocations, resources and manage implementation processes
- apply a high standard of professional ethics in a variety of environments, meeting conduct and ethical behaviour standards relevant to a variety of circumstances
- undertake independent scholarship demonstrating the capacity to plan and execute a research-based urban design project and properly use a vocabulary of urban design paradigms and case studies to contextualise their proposition.
Pathways and scholarships
- Pathways and scholarships.
Course fees and requirements
- Fees, entry requirements and English language requirements.
Course fees
A$39120 (annual for 2023)*
Entry requirements
A prerequisite for many courses, the Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) can now be done on campus in Hawthorn at Room 132, Building TD. Book now or call +61 3 9214 3584 for more information.
Admission to the Master of Urban Design will require one of the following:
- successful completion of the Swinburne Bachelor of Design (Architecture) or
- successful completion of the Swinburne Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) with a major in Architecture or
- successful completion of the Swinburne Bachelor of Design (Interior Architecture) (Honours) with an advanced minor in Architecture or
- successful completion of another three year undergraduate architectural course*.
*In the case of completing another three year undergraduate architectural course, a review of prior learning in relation to the Swinburne Bachelor of Design (Architecture) will be necessary. Supplemental transitionary classes may be required.
Selection will be made using a Range of Criteria which can include (but not be limited to):
- a pre-selection kit requiring submission of an online portfolio (between 10 and 20 pages) **
- a personal motivation statement
- university transcripts.
**Pre-selection kit: Applicants are required to submit a portfolio of between 10 and 20 pages, which must address architecture- and/or urban design-related questions and include visual examples; and provide a 200-400 word written statement.
In your portfolio, we are looking for evidence of your ability to think spatially, critically and creatively, as well as the desire to design and build things. In assessing your portfolio, we would like to see your ability to conceptualize and develop ideas. As well as finished outcomes, we are also interested in concept sketches, 3d models or working drawings that display your thinking process.
Your portfolio will be assessed according to the following criteria:
- conceptual thinking and level of ambition in your projects;
- spatial thinking, planning and a sense of scale;
- digital and analogue communication skills, including the use of architectural drawing conventions; and
- construction and environmental technology.
Think carefully about how you present your portfolio as we will also consider how you structure your content into a clear, compelling story about yourself and your passion for, and commitment to, architecture and urban design.
All work must be original. All images must be clearly labelled. In the case of work that has involved others, such as group work or work with a design practice, clearly indicate what your contribution was.
Portfolios will be reviewed on a standard computer screen. Please ensure legibility accordingly.
To submit your portfolio, you’ll need to complete your online application first. We’ll then send you a link so you can upload your portfolio to Slide Room.
English language requirements
Satisfactory completion of one of the following:
- IELTS overall band of 6.5 (Academic Module) with no individual band below 6.0
- Swinburne’s English for Academic Purposes (EAP 5 Advanced level) with overall 70%, all skills 65%
- Or equivalent measures available at English language requirements.
How to apply
Find out more
Submit an online enquiry
Tel: +61 3 9214 8444 (outside Australia)
Tel: +61 3 9214 8444 (outside Australia)
Freecall: 1300 794 628 (within Australia)