Study location	Italy, Florence
Type	Graduate, full-time
Nominal duration	2 years (120 ECTS)
Study language	English

Application fee	€20 one-time Application fee is non-refundable

Entry qualification	Undergraduate diploma (or higher) The entry qualification documents are accepted in the following languages: English / French / Italian / Spanish. Often you can get a suitable transcript from your school. If this is not the case, you will need official translations along with verified copies of the original.

Language requirements	English English B2 proficiency is required.

Other requirements	At least 1 reference(s) should be provided. A relevant portfolio is required.

More information	https://www.clurpd.unifi.it

Overview

The master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning and Design (URPD) trains specialists in the field of knowledge and management of global change, through multidisciplinary and innovative methods. Negative aspects of globalization (i.e., low quality of contemporary urbanization, climate change, environmental disasters, large migrations, social injustice, pandemics and the energy crisis) massively affect all living contexts that require urgent interventions. This master’s degree – built by The Department of Architecture (DIDA) and Department of Agriculture, Food, Environment and Forestry (DAGRI) – adopts a multidisciplinary, integrated, and interactive approach to design strategies, with particular attention paid to the joint use of technical and artistic methods. Projects developed during the two-year master’s degree are shaped by the integration of knowledge and methodologies of urban and regional planning, river restoration, ecology, economics, landscape architecture, agroforestry, both in the Global North and South.

Programme structure

“Each place has a true personality; and with this shows some unique elements – a personality too much asleep it may be, but which it is the task of the planner, as master-artist, to awaken” (Patrick Geddes 1915).

“Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” is the 11th Sustainable Development Goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The degree’s main goal is to make students able to meet this challenge, working to transform metropolitan areas, cities, towns, remote areas suffering for depopulation, in resilient and “self-sustainable” places. In the degree you will learn how to draw up plans and projects at different scales, from neighbourhood to landscape, from city to large territorial and environmental areas. Students will learn how to manage complex projects and coordinate multidisciplinary working groups in the field of built environment. Particular attention is paid to urban policies and citizen engagement tools in decision-making processes. The degree also deals with the knowledge and planning of rural and open areas, applying the concept of “urban bioregion”. In particular, the master’s degree trains the following specialists:

Regional Planner and Designer
Urban Planner and Designer
Expert in Public Policies and Participatory Processes
Agronomist-forester Expert in Regional Planning