Master of Urban Design

Virtual information session: Thursday, November 7, 1 pm, register. / Application deadline: January 7, 2025. Financial aid is available.

The Berkeley Master of Urban Design (MUD) is a three-semester interdisciplinary post-professional degree located at the College of Environmental Design. MUD is a STEM-designated program for anyone with a prior professional degree in architecture, landscape architecture, or city planning. Working with multidisciplinary College of Environmental Design faculty—from architecture, landscape architecture, and city planning—as well as with practicing designers gives students a range of analytic and design tools.

Berkeley MUD—the only urban design degree program in California—engages diverse communities to imagine the future. The program is centered on researching and designing alternative forms of urbanism for a range of real-world conditions, from dense post-industrial cities in the inner Bay Area to small towns on the rural/urban periphery. MUD students engage with sites at urban, suburban, and territorial scales, all requiring inventive design strategies supported by research and analysis and grounded in economic, political, and social contexts. 

California is the ideal laboratory for creating new forms of socially and environmentally resilient urbanism. With a diverse population of 40 million, who live in megacities and small rural towns—and everything in between—California offers boundless opportunities. Always at the cutting edge, California is at the forefront of progressive policies and innovative solutions to meet the challenges of a changing climate and rising socioeconomic inequality.

Berkeley MUD students benefit from studying at the top public university in the United States alongside the brightest and most passionate students from across the globe. Berkeley’s environment of critical inquiry, discovery, and innovation is informed by a deep commitment to contributing to a better world. 

Register for a virtual info session to meet the admissions team, faculty, and current students and learn more about the program and how to apply. Applications are due on January 7.

Learn more about Berkeley MUD.