Resilience and Urban Living MSc

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This programme will give students a broad-ranging, yet grounded understanding of how individuals, organisations, enterprises and / or communities can cope with external stresses and disturbance as a result of rapid social, political, economic or environmental change. These changes also include core societal challenges including demographic change, security and terrorism, climate change and sustainability.

Given that the concept of resilience has become central to academic and policy debates, students will be uniquely placed to identify, explain and offer appropriate responses to the challenges facing individuals, communities and practitioners alike who may be living or working in urban areas.

Course fact file

Type of Course: Taught

Study Options: Full time, part time

Duration: 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time

Start date: September

Details

The programme combines expertise from Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, Environmental Science, Civil Engineering and Psychology, and is truly multidisciplinary. You will interact with other MSc students from across the social sciences and thereby gain a unique breadth of academic research, teaching and key transferable skills.

Download the MSc/MRes Resilience and Urban Living leaflet

Why study this course

CURS’s research and teaching has a special focus on socio-spatial aspects of public policy, particularly at urban, regional, neighbourhood and community levels, both in the U.K. and internationally. As a student you will be learning in an active research environment where your teachers have cutting -edge expertise in resilience, spatial planning, housing policy and markets; economic development; regeneration and renewal; communities, and institutions and change.

Modules

Students study three core modules (60 credits in total) plus three optional modules according to their background and interests (60 credits) and a dissertation of 12,500 words (60 credits).

Core modules

  • Resilience, Energy and Urban Living
  • Sustainable and Resilient Cities
  • Problem-based methods for Urban Resilience

Optional modules

  • Towards Urban Renaissance: Community Involvement in the Built Environment
  • Urban Regeneration and Renewal
  • Urban Property Development
  • Place Marketing and Urban Design
  • Geographies of Energy and Capitalism
  • Environmental Management in Business
  • Negotiating Environmental Controversies
  • Environmental Risk and Society
  • Environmental Protection
  • Weather, Climate and Society
  • Landscape and Urban Ecology
  • Sustainable Construction
  • Construction Management
  • Energy Policy and Case Studies

For module descriptions see the Resilience and Urban Living MSc handbook

Fees and funding

Fees for 2013-14 are:

UK/EU (full-time): £5,130
UK/EU (part-time): £2,565
Overseas (full-time): £13,200

Scholarships and studentships 
Scholarships may be available, contact the Postgraduate Administrator on +44 (0)121 414 6935 or email g.coldicott@bham.ac.uk. International students can often gain funding through overseas research scholarships, Commonwealth scholarships or their home government.

For further information contact the School directly or get in touch with the Student Funding Office via the online enquiries system.

Entry requirements

Normally a good Honours degree or equivalent in Geography, Urban Planning, Civil Engineering or a related discipline.

Learn more about entry requirements

International students

Academic requirements

We accept a range of qualifications, our country pages show you what qualifications we accept from your country.

English language requirements

You can satisfy our English language requirements in two ways:

How to apply

When clicking on the Apply Now button you will be directed to an application specifically designed for the programme you wish to apply for where you will create an account with the University application system and submit your application and supporting documents online. Further information regarding how to apply online can be found on the How to apply pages

Apply now

Learning and teaching

Our students benefit hugely from the diversity of activity undertaken by staff within Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. Our extensive research and consultancy work ensures that our teaching is relevant, up-to-date and research-led, while losing none of its intellectual rigour. As well as having access to professional journals within the school, students can also use the University’s main library and the increasingly large variety of learning materials and library research services (e.g. WebCT) via the internet. The teaching emphasis is on participative approaches to learning that enable students to reflect critically on important current debates in the practice and principles of resilience and urban living.

Assessment methods

Modules are assessed through a variety of different methods, including essays, reports and presentations.

Related research

Employability

From an employment perspective, students who complete the programme will be able to seek employment in a wide range of professions across the public, private and ‘third sector’ (and both within the UK and beyond), including urban and community regeneration, local and regional planning, environmental management, sustainable development, civic design and civil engineering.

For those students wishing to continue with their studies, the programme provides a suitable basis for both international and EU / home students to apply for registration for a higher degree in human geography, environmental management, urban and regional planning / regeneration and civil engineering.