Master of Urban Design 2025

The Master of Urban Design (MUD) degree is a one-and-a-half-year post-professional program focusing on research and speculation. It is an interdisciplinary program tailored for those with professional degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban & regional planning. It is structured around a sequence of three thematic semesters positioning urban design as the central discipline of urban transformation: Justice, Technology, Climate.

Studio based curriculum
The studio-based curriculum consists of the following consecutive and thematized studios: Justice (fall), Technology (winter), Climate (fall). This set of three urban design studios positions design as the central discipline of urban transformations.

Research in urbanism is a core focus of the program. A seminar on urban research introduces research methodologies and prepares students to opt for a thesis track, consolidating their own research profiles.

Core seminars on urban finance and development, theories and methods of urban design, policy and urban governance, and the humanities complement the curriculum. Adding to the offerings in the Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning programs at Taubman College, students can advance their personal academic interests taking full advantage of courses in other units across campus.

Travel
The MUD degree involves travel to a variety of national and international destinations to bring students into direct contact with the communities for whom they will be designing. In their field studies, students exercise their critical thinking skills and cultivate cultural competency as well as a more nuanced examination of local conditions and building practices.

Research engagement
MUD students are encouraged to engage in collaborations with faculty members and advance their own research interests during the time at Taubman College. Through the highly competitive MUD Fellowships, the degree supports this commitment by awarding students research stipends at their time to their admission to Taubman College. Access to our on-site, world-class facilities, including the Fabrication Lab enables students to engage in advanced technological platforms. Through the access to these resources and the expanded areas of expertise on campus, students gain exposure to a myriad of contemporary global practices and schools of urban thought and cultivate critical design experimentation advancing the agenda of urban sustainability.

Global challenges
The MUD is a post-professional degree invested in the conceptualization of the complex global processes of urban transformation.

Program structure
MUD students come from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds at various stages in their professional careers. Graduates have gone on to successful careers in academia or professional practice and maintain a strong alumni network. The Program requires 45 academic credits distributed in three semesters.

Other info
Requirement for Admission: Professional degrees in architecture, landscape architecture and urban and regional planning. The Master of Urban Design degree is an approved field of study within the U.S. government’s official STEM fields list. When a student earns a degree in a field on the STEM fields list, he/she may be eligible for the 24-month Optional Practical Training (OPT) extension. OPT is defined as practical work experience in your field of study after completion of a degree.

Academic calendar
Fall term: August 25, 2025 to December 14, 2025
Winter term: January 7, 2026 to May 3, 2026
Fall term: August 31, 2026 to December 20, 2026