RESEARCH & TEACHING PROGRAM URBAN DESIGN

The Master’s Degree in Urban Design at HafenCity University addresses the challenges and potentials of contemporary urban society by critically analyzing its current states and the design of future modes of co-production in urban spaces. We, as the research and teaching staff of the program, understand the city as a historically developed and continuously re/produced entity that is shaped by diverse actors, processes, discourses, materialities, imaginaries, and modes of use. It is within this assemblage of practices of humans and non-humans that the interdependencies of the urban emerge. The objective of the study program Urban Design is to understand urban configurations and relevant knowledges thus making these negotiable and tangible to unlock potentialities hidden therein and to inform urban transformation processes.

Additionally, the Urban Design program is concerned with developing, testing and conveying appropriate methodologies, and forms of knowledge for the interaction with the city in terms of research and design. Some current research interests and annual topics of the program focus on housing and dwelling as urban practices, Everyday Urban Design, Spatial Politics of Comfort or Urgent Matter/s of the Just City and Social Infrastructures concerning Maintenance and Care.

The master program invites students from theory as well as practice backgrounds and a broad range of disciplines and professional fields with an interest in gaining further qualifications in the field of urban research, development, and design of urban environments. The courses of the study program are taught bilingually in German and English.

Atlas Production in Urban Design Project 1 - Standards and Ethics of the Minimum; Photo: Antonia Lembcke

Applying to M.Sc. Urban Design

Want to know more?

Application period: 1st June – 15th July (For international students: End of March to 15th of July)


If you want to apply you must do so through the application portal that you can access via
hcu-hamburg.de.

As a German student, find the general application information here, and the same information for international students here, as well as the required document checklist for your application process.

Find the current Study Module Plan and more information about our study program in the Download section.

Do not hesitate to write to us if you have any questions regarding the application process.

Feel free to contact us via E-mail or write to Prof. Bernd Kniess to register for his consultation hours on Wednesdays, 9am-10am.

There is also one online information event for all prospective students just before the application phase, organized by Fachschaft Urban Design together with the teaching and research staff Urban Design.
You will be able to get an overview of what it means to study Urban Design at HCU Hamburg and have the opportunity to ask questions you might have about our program and the application process.

Check this page regularly, sign up to our newsletter or follow us on instagram to stay updated.

Qualification:

Master of Science (M.Sc.)

Program duration: 4 semesters (2 years) full-time

Credit points according to ECTS: 30 CP per semester, 120 CP in total

Study program: 10 mandatory modules; 3 Urban Design Projects (10 CP each); 6 modules Urban Theory and Methodology (5 CP each); Thesis (25 CP); 7 elective modules (5 CP each)

Winter semester: 1st October to 31st March

Summer semester: 1st April to 30th September

@ud_hcu on instagram