MSc in Urban Regeneration and Development

MSc Urban Regeneration and Development focuses on the regeneration and development of cities.

It will provide you with a range of intellectual and professional skills in urban regeneration and development in both public and private sectors, including local authorities and central government bodies, local regeneration partnerships, regeneration consultancies and private developers.

Special features

• Benefit from small-group teaching, close staff-student relationships, and guided one-to-one supervision.
• Develop practical skills in project studios withdrawing facilities, model-making workshops, and specialist design and spatial analysis software.
• Have the flexibility to mix discipline units or specialise and choose from a range of optional course units.
• Enjoy fieldwork opportunities in the UK and abroad (if permitted by the current pandemic situation), exploring real-life issues on one-day trips, site visits, and overseas residential visits. Past locations have included London, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Toronto, Amsterdam, Belfast, Seattle, Dublin and Istanbul.
• Study in Manchester, a city where planning has been taught for more than 50 years, and urban development and environmental impacts are on your doorstep.

Coursework and assessment

Assessment methods are largely individually based, but also involve some elements of group working.

Overall, you are continuously assessed via a range of methods, including essays and report writing, topic papers and critical reviews, project portfolios, and assessed workshop presentations.

Formative feedback is provided through the courses both orally and in written forms to help you develop further key skills.

A 15,000-word dissertation on an approved topic is discussed and chosen at the beginning of the second semester and a suitable supervisor is allocated.

You will:

• identify urban problems and build the knowledge base to devise appropriate solutions;
• receive excellent preparation for professional practice in urban development and regeneration;
• get an international perspective on urban regeneration and development.

The course prepares you for employment in professional practice in planning in the UK or overseas and will provide you with the academic knowledge and professional skills for employment in the private (consultancy, development industry) and public (local authorities, development agencies) sectors.

More generally, MSc Urban Regeneration and Development graduates are popular with employers, particularly in consultancy, where the ability to analyse and propose policies and implement strategies is vital.

After London, Manchester hosts the largest number of planning and environmental consultancies in the UK.

Our graduates have gone on to successful careers in areas including environmental management and consultancy, urban planning and design, real estate development, urban and regional development policy, central and local government, international development, energy and water, non-governmental organisations, and research.

Top employers include AECOM, Arup, Atkins, BP, EDF Energy, the Environment Agency, Jacobs, and Rolls-Royce, among other international consultancy companies and agencies.

If you decide not to follow a vocational career, your wide knowledge base and transferable skills in problem-solving, strategic thinking, teamwork, creativity and communication fit what most employers are seeking.