Urban Design
Urban Design, M.Sc

Program overview

Architects and urban, regional, and landscape planners can often not truly do justice to the complex tasks of urban development with their specific expertise and skills. Urban development requires a multidisciplinary, cooperative approach both because of the complexity of the tasks and the large number of affected and participating actors. The master’s program in Urban Design brings together architecture, urban and regional planning, sociology, and landscape architecture.

In cooperation with Tongji University in Shanghai, China, you have the opportunity to complete the degree program Urban Design as a double master’s degree (dual degree program). Participants in the special program study together for one year in Berlin and for one year in Shanghai.

The degree program profile provides a useful overview of the most important details for prospective students.

DegreeMaster of Science
Standard period of study4 semesters
Credit points120
Program startWinter semester
AdmissionRestricted admission
Language of instructionEnglish

Information about the program

Organizing your studies

Profile

The Urban Studies master’s program offered by Technische Universität Berlin combines critical reflection of cities and their design. The program examines issues pertaining to systems and spaces from the local to the regional level. The discipline of urban design addresses processes of urbanization in an international context and their historical and current development.

Urban Design is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary discipline located at the intersection of architecture, urban and regional planning, urban sociology, landscape architecture and environmental planning. The program's broad curriculum introduces its students to all these disciplines through an integrated approach. In addition to completing projects in the above disciplines, design projects and integrated seminars introduce students to methods which reveal the complexity of the tasks and equip students to act in complex issues. Students also practice interdisciplinary collaboration.

The work of urban designers is not restricted to a single scale but deals with the spatial interrelations between the micro and macro, as well as local and global levels. Graduates and students of this degree program work in a range of professional contexts including:

  • The urbanization processes in both the Global South and North and their interaction
  • The management of dynamic and rapid urban growth and the implementation of process design approaches
  • The critical and creative assessment of changing social framework conditions
  • The planning of existing and new urban settlements, open spaces and urban landscapes
  • The design of public spaces, incorporating ecological, cultural, social, political, technical and financial framework conditions

The degree program prepares students from various disciplines for a career in design or academia or for a leading public planning or administration role. The program seeks to develop critical research design skills. Students in the program learn how to develop creative responses to contemporary urban issues, whist taking into account the cultural, social and political framework conditions providing their context.

Graduates of the program have a well-grounded understanding of transdisciplinary approaches reaching beyond the boundaries of individual disciplines and are equipped to deal with a range of socially-relevant issues and the concerns of the various stakeholders. They will have developed an in-depth understanding of design in terms of the development of solution-oriented thinking and action aimed at the generation of knowledge and social transformation. Students also learn to incorporate topics from spatial research. The design skills developed during the program equip graduates to graphically communicate and visualize information that shapes urban space and to formulate hypotheses and future scenarios on the basis of sociological research.

Graduates of the program will possess architectural, urban planning, urban sociological and landscape architecture knowledge, informed by an understanding of the associated ecological and gender issues and are able to incorporate all these considerations into a holistic approach.

Program structure

The master's program is divided into compulsory, compulsory elective, and elective components. The compulsory component includes several projects and the master’s thesis. Electives are designed to allow you to acquire additional subject-specific and generic skills as well as expertise qualifying you for a profession. You can choose elective modules from the entire course catalog at TU Berlin or another university in Germany or abroad. Each degree program also has a designated mobility window when you are able to complete a stay abroad.

The Urban Design master’s program is conceived as a project-based program incorporating a large proportion of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary project-based teaching. Studios are practical, problem-oriented undertakings conducted on the basis of academic principles. The studios pursued within the scope of this master’s program address current planning and design tasks on a municipal, regional, national and international level.

In their first semester, students attend the project “Urban Design Studio.” In their second and third semesters, students complete two suitable projects drawn from the Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban and Regional Planning master’s programs.

Accompanying the projects, further modules for knowledge building are anchored in the compulsory area. In these modules, students learn about content-related and methodologically relevant aspects that form the basis of the various disciplines in the Urban Design degree program.

The objectives and structure of the program as well as the examination requirements and details on how the examinations are conducted are set down in the study and examination regulations. These also contain a proposed course schedule for the degree program. This is a recommendation for how to complete the degree program within the standard period of study of four semesters:

Module

A module is a complete teaching and learning unit. Generally it consists of several different courses. Modules encompass attending classes as well as preparing for class, studying, and any exams or coursework required.

Detailed information about credit points, study content and learning outcomes, courses, workload, prerequisites for participation, exam formats and modalities, grading, as well as module duration can be found in the respective module description.

Compulsory and compulsory elective modules in your degree program are listed in the module list / catalog. This allows you to see which modules you can have counted towards each component (e.g. compulsory, compulsory elective, specialization). Please observe this information when planning your studies. It is generally not possible to re-allocate a module to a different component.

Courses

Modules generally consist of several courses which take place either in person or online.

You can find a complete and up to date overview of courses for the respective semester in the Institute of Architecture’s annotated course catalog.

Further courses, including those offered by other institutes, can be found in the TU Berlin course catalog. There you can search for a specific course or view the course recommendations for your current semester of study based on your study and examination regulations and the proposed degree schedule. You can also create your own personal schedule of courses.

Additional details about individual courses can also be found on the website of the academic chair teaching the course or ISIS.

Internship

Before commencing study in the master’s program, students are to complete one or more internships lasting a minimum of 640 hours (generally 16 weeks).

Further information is available in the program’s internship guidelines.

Stay abroad

International cooperation agreements with the degree program and faculty allow you to study abroad at a partner university in Europe or overseas. TU Berlin also provides assistance with internships abroad. For detailed information as well as links to requirements, deadlines, and the application procedure, see Study & Internships Abroad.

Dual Degree Program

As part of the master’s degree in Urban Design, you also have the opportunity to take part in a dual degree program with Tongji University in Shanghai / China.

Part-time studies

Generally studying at TU Berlin is on a full-time basis. However, it is possible to study part time and complete only half of the required credit points each semester. University semesters completed on a part-time basis are counted as half of a degree semester.

The Office of Student Affairs website has everything you need to know about requirements, how to request part-time studies, and other important things to consider.

Visiting students and guest auditors

As a rule, visiting students and guest auditors in restricted admission degree programs in Faculty VI are only permitted to attend lectures. You require signed approval from the course instructor and faculty (dean of studies).

Visiting students should discuss examinations and receiving credit points with their instructor. You will receive a certificate of performance with your grade and credit points from the respective academic chair. An instructor may deny your request to take an exam which is already fully.

Guest auditors are not permitted to take exams.


Application procedure

Application forms and further information are available from the Office of Student Affairs.

Please complete the form and request approval from the course instructor and faculty. As a rule, you can do this electronically via email using digital signatures. To request approval from the faculty, please send an email to studienbuero(at)fak6.tu-berlin.de.

Once the Office of Student Affairs has reviewed your application, it will be forwarded to Campus Management, who will email you your authorization for a TU Berlin account. Your TU account allows you to use a number of services, including the ISIS platform.

Quality assurance in the degree program

The following quality assurance instruments are regularly implemented in the degree program:

  • Degree program evaluation (every five to six years)
  • Teaching conferences (at least once annually)
  • Course evaluations (at least once every three semesters)

The Office of Academic and Student Affairs has provided further information about these and other quality assurance offers on the page Quality in Study and Teaching.

Results of current course evaluations are made available to registered users (Login via TU Portal).

Course Guidance

If you have further questions, please contact the peer advisors in Course Guidance. They offer individual support and advising and regularly organize info sessions for new students.

The website for peer Course Guidance and other contact persons is provided below under Downloads & advising.

Examinations

General examination information

TU Berlin’s General Study and Examination Regulations (AllgStuPO) determine the general organization and implementation of studies and examinations for all study programs at TU Berlin. The AllgStuPO is supplemented by study and examination regulations (StuPO) for each degree program, which define the objectives and structure of the program as well as examination requirements and how exams are conducted.

The websites for the Examination Office as well as your examination board provide both general and degree-program specific information about examinations, from registering for exams to plagiarism. You can also find a list of all relevant contact persons.

Module examinations

Students complete a module with an examination or assessment during their studies. The module examination determines how well students achieved the module’s learning objectives.

Pursuant to the TU Berlin General Study and Examination Regulations (AllgStuPO), module examinations are completed as written or oral examinations, portfolio assessments, term papers, or presentations. The study and examination regulations (StuPO) for your degree program may contain other examination formats.

As a rule, module examinations are taken during the next regularly scheduled examination period following a module. You register for exams via the Moses account/MTS/module examinations. Alternatively, your instructor will inform you how to register.

Be sure to observe the registration and de-registration deadlines! You must complete a registered exam if you do not de-register by the deadline. If you do not attend a registered exam or do not submit the examination/assessment work, the examination will be graded as “failed” and you will not receive any points.

It is possible to withdraw from a registered exam outside of the de-registration period in the event of significant reasons (e.g. illness). You must submit your withdrawal request no later than the day of the exam or first examination component to the examiner and Examination Office. You must submit proof of your reason for withdrawing within five days to the Examination Office.

Failed module exams can be repeated twice. If you seek advising from Course Guidance, you will be granted a fourth examination attempt. You must register in person at the Examination Office for the third and fourth overall attempts.

Failed module examinations taken during the first degree semester of a bachelor’s program are not recorded (“Freiversuchsregelung”). It is not possible to re-take a passed exam.

Students can request a reconsideration procedure to have their exam results reviewed and changed once these have been published.

Detailed information about examination formats, registering and de-registering, withdrawing, repeating module exams, and examination assessments can be found in TU Berlin’s General Study and Examination Regulations (AllgStuPO).

If you have questions about an exam, please contact the academic chair giving the exam.

If you have general questions about exams or require assistance due to conflicts regarding an exam or exam grade, please contact the examination board responsible for your degree program.

Final thesis

The final thesis is a form of examination and part of a student’s scientific training. The writing period and registration requirements are laid out in the study and examination regulations (StuPO). Depending on the study and examination regulations, the final thesis may be supplemented by an oral defense.

The final thesis may also be completed as groupwork or in collaboration with institutions outside of the University.

You must submit the application for admission to the final thesis, including a potential first examiner, your topic, and proof of any completed requirements pursuant to the StuPO, to the Examination Office.

As a rule, failed final theses can be repeated twice.

Detailed information about registering, withdrawing, repeat examinations, and evaluation guidelines can be found in TU Berlin’s General Study and Examination Regulations (AllgStuPO).

If you have questions about the content of your final thesis, please contact your first examiner or the supervising academic chair.

If you have general questions about the final thesis or require assistance due to conflicts regarding your thesis or its evaluation, please contact the examination board responsible for your degree program.

Plagiarism, cheating, breach of regulations

If a candidate tries to influence the result of an exam by cheating or influencing examination bodies, the examiner will exclude them from the exam. In such cases, you will receive a grade of “insufficient” or “failed” and must repeat the exam.

Cheating or an attempt to cheat is when you reproduce sources (texts, graphs, tables, figures) including Internet sources in unchanged or modified form and fail to identify these as such. This also applies if you use a written assignment for several coursework assignments or examinations. The use of unauthorized aids and falsification of empirical data are also considered cheating.

If a student is caught cheating again, the examination board may exclude them from completing further examinations which will lead to exmatriculation.

Detailed information about cheating and breaches of regulations can be found in the General Study and Examination Regulations (AllgStuPO).

Academic adjustment

You can receive an academic adjustment on certain grounds (e.g. disability or chronic illness, pregnancy or maternity leave, caring for a family member), if you are unable to take an exam on the scheduled date or complete coursework by the scheduled deadline, within the designated period or timeframe, at the designated location, in the designated format, or in any other designated way. Academic adjustments are made by fixing another appointment, an extended period or timeframe, a different location, a different format, permission for auxiliary tools or persons, or in any other appropriate way

The responsible examination board decides on the academic adjustment upon application by the student.

Detailed information can be found in the General Study and Examination Regulations (AllgStuPO).

If you have further questions, please contact the representative for students with disabilities and chronic illnesses, Psychological Counseling, or the Family Services Center.

Credit transfer

Credit transfer for coursework and examinations

Students can submit a request to have coursework and examination credits transfered which were completed at a university or other institution of equivalent status in Germany and abroad as long as the skills acquired do not significantly differ from those in the modules required by the degree program (see module list).

You must submit the application for credit transfer including all necessary proof to the examination board responsible for your degree program.

Before beginning a semester abroad, we recommend having the transferability of any credits confirmed by the examination board in a “Learning Agreement.”

Detailed information can be found in the General Study and Examination Regulations (AllgStuPO).

 

Credit transfer for periods of practical professional work

You can receive credit for skills acquired outside of university studies (e.g. professional qualifications) if these are equivalent to the module content and learning objectives. You can receive credit for professional skills for up to half of the total number of credits required by your degree program.

Please submit your application for recognition of professional qualifications including necessary proof to the examination board responsible for the degree program.

Further information can be found in the General Study and Examination Regulations (AllgStuPO).

Stay abroad

All degree programs are organized to allow students to complete a stay abroad without negatively impacting their study progress. A mobility window is required and must be designated in the study and examination regulations (StuPO).

Student mobility is promoted through transparent credit transfer. Before beginning a semester abroad, we recommend having the transferability of any credits confirmed by the examination board in a “Learning Agreement.”

You can find further information at Recognition & Equivalence.

BAföG certificate

German students (and international students under certain conditions) can request BAföG assistance for an undergraduate degree or first master’s degree. You must submit your application to the BAföG Office.

During your studies, you will undergo one academic performance assessment (between the fourth and fifth semesters), where you have to demonstrate that you have earned the usual credit points required by your degree program.

You can find your responsible BAföG representative on the page Representatives and Committees. The officers are responsible for notarizing your certificates of performance which are required for your BAföG application.

Examination Board

Specific information relevant to your degree program, contact information, and further links can be found on the website of your examination board.

Downloads & advising

Course Guidance

Course Guidance, staffed by peer advisors, offers information for prospective students and supports students in Architecture and Urban Design programs with general and specific questions about their studies.

Academic Advising Service

TU Berlin’s Academic Advising Service assists students and prospective students with questions about choosing a degree program, organizing their studies, as well as with problems while studying.

Application & Admission

Dates and Deadlines

All important dates and deadlines as well as important dates throughout the semester are published here by the Office of Student Affairs.