The city is one of humanity’s most important inventions and it is facing basic challenges for the future in the 21st century.

Against this backdrop, design is an essential tool for improving the social, cultural and economic fabric of the urban contexts in which we live. Through a knowledge and understanding of past and present urban environments and by projecting for the future, we can design new proposals that adapt to the changes that the future holds with those people living in and managing them.

The main areas or the Urban Design Course are: design for sustainable development, empowering citizens to confront social challenges, governance, cooperation, e-democracy, open data, transparency, design to solve the challenges of urban mobility and to contribute to the safety of people.

Language: English

Duration: 6 months

Schedule: Monday to Friday from 18.30h to 22.40h

Credits: 60

– To train new professional profiles with the skills to act in urban contexts from a collaborative design perspective based on the needs of various actors/stakeholders.

– To provide students with a global, interdisciplinary and integrating vision of the experiences taking place within the urban environment in order to propose relevant, consensual and sustainable design solution actions.

– To provide students with specific tools and knowledge to complete projects related to the urban environment.

– To train students to acquire the language and role of a designer/facilitator profile in order to co-create urban environment solutions.

Observation, analysis and experimentation are an essential part of learning. The course proposes intense theoretical/practical immersion in the urban context of the city of Barcelona, which is why both its theoretical classes and projects are backed by outings led by the teachers of the Master’s degree.

The course proposes five interrelated lines of action that are structured upon various types of subjects.

These lines of action are: THINKING, DOING, PROJECTING, LISTENING and COMMUNICATING.

– Professionals and recent graduates who are interested in continuing their studies in order to acquire skills in strategic urban design and become involved in urban design projects from a multidisciplinary and cross-disciplinary perspective.

– Product, visual communication and interior designers, architects and management/marketing professionals, among others, will be able to update their knowledge and acquire new skills in areas of urban design that are not part of their expertise.

– Professionals interested in exploring the intersection of design, social innovation and public policies.

Graduates will be qualified to join different kinds of projects in the urban context with tools that can help them to interpret from an overall perception of design. They will be able to face the challenges posed by current urban problems and citizen needs, expanding their knowledge to work with multidisciplinary teams and coordinating a design approach in urban projects.

They will be able to work in public/private entities in some of the following areas/functions:
– Lead urban regeneration processes
– Urban design consultancy
– Urban design process management
– Conduct studies related to the urban environment
– Prepare guidance and statements
– Site and area design and/or mobility design
– Facilitate collaborative processes for design in the urban environment
– Visualise and communicate data in urban design processes