Architecture, Landscape, and Design: Urban Design MUD

The Master of Urban Design (MUD) is a post-professional program that prepares architects and landscape architects for design-based research and professional practice at the urban and regional scales. The MUD program is committed to design as a primary medium of operation and research in a broad intellectual framework that includes geography, environmental studies, social sciences, media studies, economics, and engineering. It aims for responsible and creative design in the context of contemporary city and region building, with attention to new paradigms of urbanization, global economic restructuring, and information technology. The program emphasizes a coherent intellectual approach that is committed to analysis and critique and seeks to become the central Canadian forum for advanced research, design innovation, scholarship, criticism, and debate in urban design.

MUD Program (2-Year)

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design's additional admission requirements stated below.

  • A professional degree in architecture (BArch or MArch) or landscape architecture (BLA, MLA). Applicants with a degree in urban planning (MCP, MUP, or MScPl) may be considered for admission if they are able to demonstrate design potential in their application portfolio. Applicants may be required to complete design and/or visual communication workshops before they begin the MUD program, to prepare them for the design studio component of the MUD curriculum.

  • All applicants must submit a portfolio of design work for review. Admission is based on the merits of the applicant's overall academic background and strength of design portfolio as evaluated by the admissions committee.

  • Applicants whose primary language is not English and who graduated from a university where the language of instruction and examination was not English must demonstrate proficiency in English. See General Regulations section 4.3 for requirements.

Completion Requirements

  • Students study full-time, taking all required courses in each given session. An FZ (fail) in any one course, or a B– grade in two studio courses or in any three courses normally results in a recommendation to the School of Graduate Studies to terminate the student's candidacy for the degree program.

  • There is no additional language requirement other than proficiency in English on admission. Writing support is integrated into the program to develop specialized skills that are essential to effective learning and communication in the design fields.

  • Progress in the program is dependent upon satisfactory completion of studio and required core courses in sequence. Exceptions can be made at the discretion of the Program Director, and in consultation with the Office of the Registrar and Student Services in the case of accessibility.

  • Coursework. Students must complete a total of 9.5 full-course equivalents (FCEs) as follows:

    • 7.0 FCEs in core courses:

      • 2.0 FCEs: Design Studio

      • 1.0 FCE: Option Design Studio

      • 0.5 FCE: Thesis Preparation and Research

        • URD2014H Thesis Research and Preparation

      • 1.0 FCE: Design Thesis

      • 1.0 FCE: History Theory Criticism

        • URD1031H Urban History Theory Criticism

        • URD1041H Introduction to Urban Design Theory and Practice

      • 1.5 FCEs: other courses

        • URD1021H Urban Design Computation

        • URD1044H Urban Design and Development or PLA1655H Urban Design and Development Controls

        • URD2041H Business and Land Use Planning in Real Estate Development or PLA1651H Planning and Real Estate Development

    • 2.5 elective FCEs.

Mode of Delivery: In person
Program Length: 4 sessions full-time (typical registration sequence: FW-FW)
Time Limit: 3 years full-time

 

Architecture, Landscape, and Design