Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Study Details: 1 year / 45 week programme
Full-time study
City design is more than just designing physical structures. It’s about how we live together, work, and move. And, at a time of multiple crises, we need to design not just practical responses but reimagine the future. Studying at a leading art and design college, you’ll be perfectly placed to do exactly that.
Some students study with us to specialise, but this programme is also a great chance to broaden your expertise or pivot your practice. We’ll help develop your technical skills and use digital tools while learning how to communicate your ideas. You’ll go beyond designing in and for cities and drawing plans by thinking about the institutions that guide them in the process.
Discover new models of city and urban design and uncover what’s possible for the future, working across scales from street to block to neighbourhood. Combine architectural, social sciences and scientific research. Connect with NGOs, policy makers, government and industry.
Our studio frameworks aren’t meant to provide site and thematic specialisations, but instead help develop conceptual and technical skills that can be applied to diverse challenges. For example, being able to create designs that respond to the climate crisis will be key, whatever you decide to do next.
Candidates are selected entirely on merit and applications are welcomed from all over the world. The selection process considers creativity, imagination and innovation as demonstrated in your portfolio, as well as your potential to benefit from the programme and to achieve high MA standards overall.
This programme accepts students from a wide range of backgrounds, including career changers. Many of those who join the programme will be students of architecture with a 3+2-year Bachelor and Master’s degree, or Master's-equivalent five-year diploma, preferably in Architecture, Urban Design, Urban Planning or other related design discipline looking to acquire expertise in city and urban design projects.
However the programme also attracts many people from other backgrounds, such as social sciences, geography, urban studies, or economics, as well as those who do not already have a Master's degree. If prior work is of exceptional merit and you are able to demonstrate your ability to work alongside and contribute to multidisciplinary teams, please do apply.
Evidence of intellectual and professional curiosity and a readiness to engage in a rigorous and demanding period of study is essential.
City Design graduates are expected to go on to work in a range of fields, from architectural design practices focussed on questions of housing, to multidisciplinary design practices operating at a city scale, to further academic study, to roles in NGOs, urban planning agencies and design agencies.
Design Studio I: Conditions (15 credits)
Seminar I: Positions (15 credits)
Media Studies (15 credits)
Design Studio II: Propositions (15 credits)
Seminar II: Transformations (15 credits)
School-wide elective (15 credits)
AcrossRCA (30 credits)
Independent Research Project (60 credits)
Ranked for twelve consecutive years as the world’s number 1 art & design university*, the Royal College of Art’s postgraduate programmes enable yo...
Thu 18 Jun 2026