London WC1B 3ES
UK
The MPhil in Architecture and Urban Design (Projective Cities) is an 18-month, interdisciplinary research and design programme that examines multi-scalar questions arising at the intersection of architecture, territory, and politics of urban form.
We are accepting applications for the 2027-28 academic cycle, launching new themes, collaborations, and research trajectories.
Projective Cities is a critical forum to engage with questions of governance and development in the context of global challenges of urbanisation. Its objective is to respond to current urban, environmental and social crises by rethinking the agency of spatial design and development within specific political, economic, social and cultural contexts.
Projective Cities prepares its candidates for independent research through a framework of rigorous design and research methodologies. The first year of the programme is taught, introducing students to research methods, academic writing, architectural and urban histories and theories, advanced analytical techniques and speculative design in preparation for a dissertation project. At the end of the first year, students submit a research proposal. This is developed in the second year, leading to an integrated design and written dissertation.
Projective Cities seeks candidates with a desire to develop provocative, innovative, and original research. It seeks exceptional thinkers, gifted designers and critical writers with an interest in the future of our cities, territories, and forms of living.
This past year, student dissertations have focused on subjects including American Railway Towns, Hot Spring Settlements in Taiwan, London’s Greenbelt, The Architecture Membership, Drinking Water Fountains in Rome, The Architecture of Self-help in India, and Social Housing in Greece. Thesis projects investigated a variety of sites and problematics, with a particular focus on community-led initiatives and programmes, as well as models of cooperative housing. The programme has an established tradition of working with stakeholders, municipal authorities, and local universities, for example in Athens and Barcelona, and has participated in international events and festivals of architecture such as Oslo Architecture Triennale and The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. In 2024, Arielle Lavine won the prestigious Dissertation Award from The Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain for her dissertation Forest Children: How Educations of Indigenous and Settler Children Reinscribe the Colonial Order. The Projective Cities’ graduates Clara Asperilla Arias and Amy Brar received commendations from SAHGB for their dissertations in 2022 and 2023, and Luis Young was awarded a Boas scholarship at the British School in Rome 2023.
In addition to our ongoing research themes, since September 2025 we have introduced a new research trajectory: The Architecture of Welfare. The ambition is to investigate, by comparative analysis, the different organisational, formal, programmatic, and material particularities that define the Architecture of Welfare State and its urban, territorial, and infrastructural manifestation. In this new research framework, Projective Cities will closely collaborate with The Autonomy Institute.
During the past academic year, the programme organised numerous public events, seminars, and lectures with international scholars, artists, and architects, including Elia Zenghelis, Boštjan Vuga, Ciro Najle, Cierto Estudio, Francesca Hughes, Aristide Antonas, Rosalind Nashashibi, Alain Pottage, Oraib Toukan, and Matilde Cassani.
From 2020 to 2023, the programme collaborated with the Department of Architecture of the University of Cyprus, working on a research and design project on the Municipality of Kessariani, in Athens. Focusing on the development of collective equipments, new housing typologies, and landscape interventions, the projects, together with extensive archival materials have been presented in Kessariani City Hall (November 2022–June 2023).
Programme Heads: Platon Issaias & Hamed Khosravi / Design Studio Lead: Dor Schindler / Seminar Lead: Georgia Hablützel / Academic & Creative Writing Lead: Amelia Stevens / Programme staff: Cristina Gamboa, Roozbeh Elias-Azar / External Advisors: The Autonomy Institute
For any queries regarding the admissions process email: postgraduateadmissions@aaschool.ac.uk. Applicants seeking bursary funding support are required to submit their application by the early application deadline (January 22, 2027). Applications received after the late applications deadline (March 5, 2027) may be accepted at the discretion of the School.
