Sustainable Urban Development (Taught)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

The two-year MSc in Sustainable Urban Development offers a rigorous and critical exploration of the theories, practices, and policies shaping sustainable urban development at global, national, and local scales.

During the course, attention is paid to the intellectual history of sustainable urban development, its current and future applications and practice, and the contemporary relevance of research to sustainable urban policy and practice across cities of the global North and South.

It attracts a lively and engaged group of students, who combine postgraduate study with their professional lives, and an active alumni network. Students on the course come from a wide international background and share a variety of work experiences in urban development and the built environment.

The MSc is designed for those operating in a range of urban contexts worldwide - public, private or third sector organisations - and fosters collaboration, creativity, perspective-sharing and effective networking skills.

The MSc runs in partnership with The King's Foundation and is accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

The course is delivered by University academics, industry experts, urban researchers and practitioners in the built environment.

Regular contributors include the University’s Transport Studies Unit.

Course structure
The MSc consists of seven in-person week-long units and one online unit. Six of the in-person units are held in Oxford at the Oxford Lifelong Learning/Department for Continuing Education, and one is hosted at The King’s Foundation in London.

The online unit, Researching the Urban, is delivered through synchronous and asynchronous learning alongside face-to-face sessions during the in-person units.

The overall schedule encompasses lectures, workshops, presentations, site visits, group projects, seminars, and tutorials.

The course is delivered through a mix of teaching and learning methods, including seminars, site visits, peer-review, research workshops and individual tutorials. Classes are seminar-based, encouraging active participation and enabling students to learn from each other. You will prepare for sessions by reading a selection of recommended books, book chapters and articles. Typically, there are six to eight weeks between each teaching week, during which time you should expect to spend an average of 20 hours per week of independent study.