City Planning

Our Masters in City Planning at the University of Glasgow will help you develop your critical understanding of cities. You’ll explore the positive impact that evidence-based and innovative decision-making can have on human settlements. Cities lie at the heart of the many challenges human societies face today, from climate change, infrastructure delivery, affordable housing, and social inequality. These challenges ensure that professional city planners around the world are in high demand. You will be equipped with the knowledge and skills you need to enter the planning profession and become sustainable place makers of the future.

WHY THIS PROGRAMME

This programme is accredited by professional industry body, the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI), which will significantly enhance your employment prospects in this field.*

Our students have excellent employment prospects with alumni working in major international planning consultancies, local and national government, and in the third sector.

Teaching on this programme is research-led and you will be taught by lecturers at the forefront of urban research. This is reflected in Urban Studies long history of success in the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF). We came joint first in 2014 and maintained our top 10 position in 2022. In our recently renamed Urban Studies and Social Policy Division, we advance cutting-edge & critical research agendas led by our 2 research groups. These are underpinned by ongoing funded national and international staff projects and our two substantial research centres, which are a fundamental part of this success: the Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE), and the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC).

Our teaching is strongly engaged in policy and practice. Through our research centres and staff networks we have close links to the Scottish Government, local authorities and other agencies who also contribute to teaching. We also have opportunities to network with professional practice at various points in the year.

This programme is rooted in place-based learning through tackling complex urban sites across Greater Glasgow.

Glasgow as a city is an exciting place to study planning. It provides a rich lens to understanding how planning engages with urban issues. Glasgow’s economic, social and architectural history provides a fascinating dynamic context to study planning. The programme is delivered via a dynamic combination of lectures, workshops, seminars alongside numerous field visits that use the city as an urban laboratory.

You will have the opportunity to participate in an optional field trip to London which will provide you with the insight into the complexities of city planning in a world city. Past trips have included visits to The Shard, King’s Cross, Battersea Power Station and a number of grassroots projects that focus on community development.

A range of scholarships and bursaries are available for UK and international students studying on MSc City Planning subject to eligibility and application success. There is more information about this in the Fees and funding section below.

*This programme is accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). It has been developed in close consultation with the relevant professional and policy communities and is intended to provide an intensive fast-track entry to a professional career in planning. You will have the opportunity to specialise through a choice of course pathways, in either Housing, International Planning, Transport, Energy and the Environment, Place and Design, or Digital Cities.