Program Overview

MASTER OF ADVANCED STUDIES IN URBAN AND TERRITORIAL DESIGN

The Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Territorial Design (MAS UTD) programme is a critical and imaginative investigation into the complex spatial questions and increasing urgencies of urban and territorial design. The programme is based on the principles of social and environmental equity and justice, and engages with notions of transformation, reuse, circularity, regeneration, reparation, and transition of habitats and ecologies.

Programme Description

The MAS UTD programme links the ETH Zurich Department of Architecture and EPFL Lausanne School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering. It is part of the ETH Zurich D-ARCH Landscape and Urban Studies Institute (LUS) and the EPFL ENAC Habitat Research Center (HRC). The programme deploys the urban and territorial project as a means to explore common epistemic horizons and new biopolitical paradigms, and as a crucial field of knowledge production across scales.

Programme Objectives

• Engage with complex spatial questions and increasing urgencies of urban and territorial design
• Investigate the critical examination of anthropocentric world views, the greening of politics and economies, growing social polarisation and uneven development, protest movements and climate activism
• Explore the future of the urban and its engagement with social and environmental imaginaries
• Develop alternatives to current urban and territorial design practices
• Investigate the transition of habitats and ecologies through transformation, reuse, circularity, regeneration, reparation, and transition

Programme Structure

• The programme is a collaboration between the ETH Zurich Department of Architecture and EPFL Lausanne School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering
• It is part of the ETH Zurich D-ARCH Landscape and Urban Studies Institute (LUS) and the EPFL ENAC Habitat Research Center (HRC)
• The programme is led by:
  • Programme Director: Milica Topalović, Assoc. Professor, Chair of Architecture and Territorial Planning
  • Programme Co-ordinator: Dr. Nancy Couling
  • Programme Director: Paola Viganò, Professor, Habitat Research Center
  • Programme Co-ordinator: Dr. Tommaso Pietropolli

Research Areas

• Urban and territorial design
• Social and environmental equity and justice
• Transformation, reuse, circularity, regeneration, reparation, and transition of habitats and ecologies
• Biopolitical paradigms and common epistemic horizons
• Knowledge production across scales

The programme is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the complex spatial questions and increasing urgencies of urban and territorial design, and to equip them with the skills and knowledge necessary to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to these challenges.