Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design

Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design
ETH Zürich D-ARCH LUS and EPFL ENAC HRC joint master programme.

The Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design is a new, one-year, full-time postgraduate programme, receiving it’s second cohort of participants in autumn 2022. It is taught in English and held at the two Swiss schools, EPFL (Autumn) and ETH Zürich (Spring). The participants receive a 60 ECTS joint degree, the “MAS ETH EPFL UTD I.”

The Territorial Project for Social and Ecological Change
Urban and territorial design has acquired a new meaning and urgency. From drivers of progress to the source of planetary hazards, the impacts of cities and urbanisation processes are being recast in the public sphere. The critical examination of anthropocentric world views, the greening of politics and economies, growing social movements, and climate activism are reflected in urban and territorial space, highlighting power asymmetries and fuelling the exploration of alternatives. The future of the urban engages social and environmental imaginaries, which now extend beyond-the-city and beyond-the-human. Rather than an object, the territory becomes a subject among other subjects, and space becomes an agent of socioecological change. In this context, urban and territorial design serves as a crucial field of synthesis, inspiring and negotiating change in science, practice and governance. The design of the territorial project is understood as a possibility to explore common epistemic horizons and new biopolitical paradigms. The MAS programme embraces such a transition as a field of critical and imaginative investigation. Engaging with notions of transformation, reuse, regeneration, reparation, and transition of habitats and ecologies, the MAS will deploy the urban and territorial project as the crucial field of knowledge production across scales.

The joint Master of Advanced Studies at the ETH Zürich and EPFL builds an innovative urban and territorial design education addressing social and environmental challenges both within the city-territory and across wider landscapes. Design and research studios form the core of the programme. Design is explored as a tool for synthesis in an expanded field of inter- and transdisciplinary exchange. The curriculum extends the scope of urban design teaching, to include both emerging developments in urban theory and a deeper understanding of the cultural and ecological dimensions of territories. Scientific research on planetary urbanisation, postcolonial thought, and the Anthropocene will be engaged in relation to urban design, landscape architecture, urban and landscape ecology, sustainable construction, and low carbon mobility.

The MAS serves as a laboratory and a forum where we propose agendas, design strategies and governance models for concrete territories. Both Swiss and international case studies are investigated through intensive, ethnographic explorations and in situ workshops. The programme engages in dialogue with communities, local actors, NGOs and governance bodies.

Collaborating teams
ETH Zürich D-ARCH, Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies (LUS), Assoc. Prof. Milica Topalović
Milica Topalović, Vesna Jovanović and Nazlı Tümerdem; Teresa Galí-Izard, Stefan Breit and Bonnie Kate Walker; Christoph Küffer; Christian Schmid, Nitin Bathla and Nancy Couling.

EPFL ENAC, Habitat Research Center (HRC), Prof. Paola Viganò
Paola Viganò and Valentin Bourdon; Charlotte Grossiot; Corentin Fivet; Luca Rossi; Sébastien Marot; Vincent Kaufmann and Luca Pattaroni; Elena Cogato Lanza and Anna Pagani.

Timeline and eligibility
Autumn 2022 (September–January): EPFL ENAC, Laboratory of Urbanism (Lab-U), Studio Paola Viganò
Spring 2023 (February–June): ETH Zürich D-ARCH, Architecture of Territory, Studio Milica Topalović

The programme is addressed to international graduates, young professionals, designers and researchers who wish to link research and design expertise in the context of the extended urbanisation of territories. A previous bachelor and master degree are both required.

Scholarships
Two scholarships covering tuition fees are offered in order to foster diversity and inclusivity.

Studying in times of Covid-19
The programme is committed to cultivating a successful social environment in Switzerland and cannot be attended remotely. Hybrid teaching formats will be available on a case-by-case basis. Support services are offered to assist in finding accommodation.

How to apply
For information about the programme, tuition fees, scholarships and how to apply, please contact us here or at the ETH School of Continuing Education. For students requiring a visa to Switzerland it is highly recommended to complete the entire application procedure before March 31st 2022.