City and Regional Planning - Master of Science

The goal of this study programme is to educate students who are equipped with multi-disciplinary competences, with the ability to create and evaluate sustainable, functional, safe, and resilient urban infrastructure and communities. The programme integrates technical courses with design and social understanding. Placemaking, spatial analysis, conceptual development and design, as well as planning processes are central topics in this programme. The master's programme in City and Regional Planning focuses on shaping sustainable and robust urban infrastructure and communities, along with renewable energy solutions. The target group for this study programme is planning-, civil engineering- or architecture students who are interested in combinations of design, technical and social issues. Experience with city/urban/spatial planning courses as well as traditional and digital graphic design and representation skills are highly recommended.

The study programme is a post-graduate programme that runs over four semesters and covers 120 ECTS, resulting in a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning. Students gain 90 compulsory study points (sp) in oral, project- and report-based assignments focusing on planning theory, methods, design, and regional planning. Over the third semester, students will be able to choose either exchange visits abroad (30 sp), or choose one of three specialisations (each 30 sp) in either “Sustainable Urban Development and Mobility”, “Renewable Urban Energy” or “Safe and Resilient Cities”.

The programme is in English, with optional Norwegian-taught courses.

The programme explicitly connects planning, engineering, and design to several sustainable development goals, pivoting especially towards numbers 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities and 13 - Climate Action. It contributes to these SDGs by applying theoretical concepts and practice-oriented approaches with the ambition of making cities more inclusive, adaptable, resilient, and sustainable. Using different pedagogical strategies, the programme achieves this through applied and conceptual approaches and evidence-gathering methodologies that measure, for example, climatic impacts and associated adaptation and mitigatory strategies. This could involve, for example, field trips to sites that further express classroom-based discussion, and the cross-examination of how sustainability goals transpire in present urban situations, with individual or team work trying assess - through drawings and site analyses - how best to address the needs of present users in a responsible, and yet future-oriented perspective.

Learning outcomes

After having completed the master’s degree programme in City and Regional Planning, the student shall have acquired the following learning outcomes, in terms of knowledge, skills and general competences:

Knowledge

K1: Has advanced knowledge within city and regional planning, and specific insight into selected topics.

K2: Has in-depth knowledge about scientific theory and methods within city and regional planning.

K3: Can apply knowledge to new topics within city and regional planning.

K4: Can analyse relevant problems while taking planning history, traditions, methods and social responsibility into account.

K5: Can understand and evaluate technical and aesthetic aspects of existing urban environment as well as propose new ones.

Skills

S1: Can participate and lead interdisciplinary planning processes on city, region and neighbourhood scales.

S2: Can analyse a space in terms of topography, history, built environment and traffic.

S3: Can propose compound master plans and small-scale designs.

S4: Can shape sustainable, functional, safe and resilient environments.

S5: Can critically assess consequences associated with proposed land use, building development and transport plans.

General Competence

G1: Can analyse professional, theoretical and research-ethical problems.

G2: Can apply knowledge and skills to new areas in order to implement advanced tasks and projects.

G3: Can convey extensive pieces of independent work and master planning terminology –orally, written and graphically.

G4: Can communicate planning problems, analyses and conclusions, to both experts and the public.

G5: Can critically assess and reflect on literature and projects on city and regional planning.

G6: Can contribute to original thinking and innovation.

Career prospects

The programme’s combination of courses in technology, design, and social sciences give students a wide skillset, and thus a large spectrum of job opportunities. Typical examples include work in physical planning and management, urban design and planning, and urban analysis in both public and private sectors.

A completed Master of Science can qualify for admission to the PhD programme in science and technology with specialisation in risk management and societal safety at the University of Stavanger.

Course assessment

Schemes for quality assurance and evaluation of studies are stipulated in Quality system for education