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Master of Urban Design
Master of Urban Design
The Master of Urban Design (MUD) is an advanced post-professional degree program for individuals who seek a career in urban design practice or for current planning and design professionals who want to enhance and expand their existing practice with urban design knowledge and expertise.
Program Overview
The MUD program consists of nine courses: one studio and three lecture courses in the fall, one studio and three lecture courses in the spring, and either a travel studio or capstone project in the summer. To earn the MUD degree, a student must complete all nine courses totaling 36 credits.
The MUD program is designed to be accomplished in a single calendar year (fall, spring, and summer semesters) as a full-time, immersive experience; however, students with qualifying circumstances or students admitted through a MUD Overlapping Dual Degree option may complete the program over a longer timeframe.
To be accepted into the MUD program, an individual must hold a master’s degree in architecture, urban planning, or landscape architecture, or an accredited professional bachelor's degree in architecture, urban planning, or landscape architecture unless they are a current CAP student.
Students in CU Denver’s M.Arch, MLA, and MURP programs may apply to the MUD program and begin earning MUD credits before they have completed their M.Arch, MLA, or MURP program requirements through the MUD Overlapping Dual Degree option.
Using Colorado’s diverse urban landscapes as a laboratory for real-world learning experiences, our MUD program teaches and trains students to become exceptional urban design thinkers, practitioners, and leaders in their communities; collaborates with urban designers to advance the profession and position it at the intersection of the city-building disciplines; and engages with the community to create great places that are sustainable, inclusive, equitable, healthy, and inspiring.
Learn more about our urban design vision and mission at the College of Architecture and Planning.
Program Hallmarks
Professional Engagement
Our Master of Urban Design program prepares students for professional practice and positions them for career advancement through ongoing engagement and partnerships with distinguished practitioners in urban design, architecture, city planning, landscape architecture, and related fields. The curriculum, which balances theory and practice, draws significantly from practicing faculty to elevate the professional competency of students and prepare them for long-term career success. Students are exposed to the many issues that cities currently face, including elements of planning policy; zoning and development regulations; public realm design; mobility and transportation; economics; social equity and environmental sustainability; and community engagement. This allows students to develop a deep understanding of the role of urban design in the city-building process and learn urban design by engaging with practitioners who are implementing projects and actively working in the delivery and evolution of urban places.
Community Engagement
Our Master of Urban Design program develops sustained partnerships with local communities and organizations to work together to advance the goals of the MUD program, urban design practice, and the broader community through the exchange of ideas and the exploration of creative design concepts. It is critical that the design of cities and the spaces and places that urban designers help shape have people as their central focus. For urban designers to best design cities as people-centered places, they must engage with the community in meaningful ways. These partnerships recognize the wealth of resources and wisdom that already exists within communities and focus on understanding their issues, problems, and challenges. These community partnerships require students and faculty to approach engagement with a “listen and learn” attitude, foster mutually beneficial relationships, and ultimately create lasting positive impacts for all people and places.
Environment and Equity
Our Master of Urban Design program focuses on the connections between urban form, public space, social equity and justice, ecological systems, environmental quality, and public health that exist at multiple scales. From the street to the neighborhood and from the city to the region, students explore the complex infrastructure systems, social networks, and ecosystems that affect our built and natural environments and look to develop new paradigms and design solutions that fight against environmental degradation, climate change, and social and racial inequities. Emphasizing the imperative for multidisciplinary approaches, the MUD program focuses on the triple bottom line of social, economic, and environmental sustainability and resilience in our cities and towns and the ever-increasing role that urban design plays in addressing climate change, disparities and displacement in underserved and historically marginalized communities, and public health and wellness.
Interdisciplinary Leadership
Our Master of Urban Design program is structured to train students how to communicate confidently with other disciplines, facilitate effective teamwork, and tackle complex urban issues to create the next generation of civic and design leaders. Urban design is positioned at the intersection of multiple professions that participate in the city-building process including architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, civil engineering, and public policy and finance. A strong urban designer has a working knowledge of these allied disciplines and applies a breadth of knowledge to their professional work. The MUD program curates a student’s skillset to position them to play critical leadership roles guiding multi-disciplinary teams and to advance the careers of those already working in urban design as well as provide a rigorous and comprehensive platform for those newly embarking on an urban design career.
Curriculum
The MUD curriculum features a mix of lecture and studio courses that comprehensively cover the spectrum of urban design theory and practice and emphasizes hands-on experiential learning and skills development. At the heart of our curriculum are our four Program Hallmarks, which are present in all courses as common themes.
The curriculum consists of nine courses: one studio and three lecture courses taken in the fall semester, one studio and three lecture courses taken in the spring semester, and the final requirement—a capstone project or travel studio (student’s choice)—taken during the summer. To earn the MUD degree, a student must successfully complete all nine courses totaling 36 credits.
Students entering the MUD program who lack certain design knowledge or skills may be required to take the program’s Design Skills Workshop before the start of the Fall semester, as determined by the program’s admissions review committee.
The table below shows the required courses in the MUD curriculum, effective Fall 2021.
Fall Semester:
|
Course # |
Course Name |
Course Type |
Credit Hours |
|
URBN 6500 |
Urban Design Studio I |
Studio |
6 |
|
URBN 6525 |
City Design Fundamentals |
Lecture |
3 |
|
URBN 6550 |
Design Policy, Process, and Regulation |
Lecture |
3 |
|
URBN 6575 |
Advanced Visualization for Urban Design |
Lecture/Lab |
3 |
Spring Semester:
| Course # | Course Name | Course Type | Credit Hours |
| URBN 6600 | Urban Design Studio II | Studio | 6 |
| URBN 6625 | Urban Design Economics and Equity | Lecture | 3 |
| URBN 6650 | Urban Design and the Environment | Lecture | 3 |
| URBN 6675 | Design Practice and Leadership | Lecture | 3 |
Summer Semester - Student’s choice of one of the following:
| Course # | Course Name | Course Type | 6 Credit Hours |
| URBN 6700 |
Urban Design Advanced Travel Studio |
Studio | |
| URBN 6725 |
Urban Design Capstone |
Individual Project |
|
Total Required Credits |
36 |
Course Descriptions
Fall Semester Course Descriptions
This studio Introduces urban design at a citywide scale through the evaluation of urban structures, systems, networks, and spatial forms that create the complex organism known as the city. Students explore urban design concepts as physical solutions to real-world issues.
URBN 6525 - City Design Fundamentals
This course Investigates the historical roots, spatial patterns, and physical forms of cities and their evolution over time; the environmental, cultural, and economic forces influencing city design; and urban design as the nexus of the planning and design professions in contemporary city-building.
URBN 6550 - Design Policy, Process, and Regulation
This course explores the many design regulations that shape the urban form, how they are created and evolve, and how they impact design ideation, analysis, and communication using real-world scenarios to experiment with and test iterative design processes and techniques.
URBN 6575 - Advanced Visualization for Urban Design
This course provides advanced instruction in effective communication and visualization through the use of digital tools commonly used in urban design (e.g. Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, SketchUp, Lumion). Topics include graphic design theory, use of storyboards, renderings, diagrams, maps, sketches, photographs, and infographics.
Spring Semester Course Descriptions
This studio advances the understanding and application of urban design tools, methods, and practices and engages students in a real-world project with a community partner. Students integrate real estate development, economics, environmental and social equity, aesthetic criteria, historic preservation, and community engagement.
URBN 6625 - Urban Design Economics and Equity
This course explores the economics of urban design through its relationship with private-sector real estate development, public-sector infrastructure, and budgetary/fiscal constraints on design implementation while emphasizing the critical role of urban design in advocating for social equity, affordable housing, and related issues.
URBN 6650 - Urban Design and the Environment
This course provides an understanding of the inextricable relationship between urban design and the natural environment. Students learn how to design sustainable public spaces, promote environmental resilience, combat climate change, and foster environmental justice and healthy communities through urban design.
URBN 6675 - Design Practice and Leadership
This course provides students with an understanding of urban design as a professional practice, how it functions within a collaborative, interdisciplinary environment, and the interpersonal skills needed to successfully work as part of and be a leader in a complex design team.
Summer Semester Course Descriptions
This studio travels to international or US urban location(s) to engage in advanced urban design development, analysis, and production on a real-world project that includes multiple environmental, cultural, and economic influences; wide-ranging urban planning contexts, and various design dimensions and functional considerations.
URBN 6725 - Urban Design Capstone
This course requires students to work individually, paired with an urban design practitioner mentor, on a complete design solution for a real-world client that incorporates the full spectrum of urban design knowledge, methods, and skills to produce professional-grade urban design plan deliverables.
Design Skills Workshop
The Design Skills Workshop is a zero-credit, intensive “crash course” workshop in core design concepts, processes, and skills that is required for students entering the MUD program who lack a strong background in design and/or design-oriented technologies. Students admitted to the MUD program are evaluated for design competency and a determination is made if the Design Skills Workshop is required or not. The Design Skills Workshop is held shortly before the start of the fall semester.
Travel Study Opportunities
Travel allows us to see and experience design perspectives from around the world. The College of Architecture and Planning offers a variety of study abroad opportunities each year. Additionally, CU Denver offers study abroad opportunities to students of all majors.
MUD Overlapping Dual Degrees
The MUD Overlapping Dual Degree gives students in the M Arch, MLA, and MURP programs at CU Denver the opportunity to apply to the MUD program and begin earning MUD credits before they have completed their M Arch, MLA, or MURP program requirements. By taking MUD lecture courses that qualify as open or cross-listed electives toward their M Arch, MLA, or MURP degree, students can reduce the total number of credits required to earn both degrees, saving time and money. Select a tab below to view the details about the MUD Overlapping Dual Degree option for each of the three programs.
- MURP + MUD Overlapping Dual Degree
- M Arch + MUD Overlapping Dual Degree
- MLA + MUD Overlapping Dual Degree
CU Denver MURP students may apply to the MUD program after they have completed at least 12 MURP credits with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00. Students can then take MUD lecture courses and apply them to both their MURP and MUD degrees. After completing the MURP degree requirements, students conclude the MUD program by taking the two MUD studios, any remaining MUD lecture courses, and the final MUD studio/capstone. Upon completing the MUD degree requirements, students are eligible to graduate and receive both their MURP and MUD degrees.
MURP students are allowed to take up to 6 credits of open electives offered by other programs, plus four of the MUD lecture courses—City Design Fundamentals; Design Policy, Process, and Regulation; Urban Design Economics and Equity; Urban Design and the Environment—are cross-listed as URPL electives. Therefore, MURP students could potentially take all six of the MUD required lecture courses as MURP electives, reducing the total credits required for both degrees by 18. How many of these six overlapping MUD lecture courses a student takes, and which ones, is up to the student.
For more information, please review the MURP + MUD Overlapping Dual Degree guide or contact your academic advisor.
Tuition & Fees
The University of Colorado Denver has one of the most affordable tuition rates in Colorado. Our tuition and fees are set by the Board of Regents, the governing body of the University of Colorado. Tuition is based on student classification (undergraduate, graduate, academic program, resident or nonresident) and you can find out what rates will apply to your situation here.
All CAP Graduate Programs have WICHE-WRGP (Western Regional Graduate Program) status, which grants in-state resident tuition to students from 15 western states including California, Washington, Oregon and Arizona.
