Dr Suzanne Hall and Dr Francine Tonkiss

This course is compulsory on the MSc in City Design and Social Science. This course is not available as an outside option.

The City Design Research Studio is the central unit of the MSc programme, linking the critical issues raised in the core and optional lecture courses with the practical analysis of issues of city design and development, and proposals for urban intervention. This course promotes a practical understanding of the city as a social and built environment. It will provide students with an appreciation of the complexities of urban design and development processes, and with interdisciplinary tools for addressing specific urban challenges. The course addresses design as a mode of research and practice that shapes urban environments, responds to urban problems, and connects visual, social and material forms in the city. It aims to integrate the physical, economic, social and political aspects of urban contexts, and develop ways to analyse these visually, textually and verbally. 

The Studio course runs every Monday and Tuesday in MT and LT through lectures, workshops and regular small-group tutorials; additional specialist seminars and workshops are scheduled throughout the Studio course. Studio groups are expected to work together during the scheduled Studio hours, and prepare collectively for regular workshops and tutorials. In MT, the Studio course focuses on methods and approaches of social and spatial research and analysis. In LT, Studio groups work intensively on a detailed analysis of a specific urban context, and develop a practical proposal for intervention in that site. 

Group presentations for faculty and guest critics. 1 x research paper and site analysis.

The assessment consists of one Studio portfolio (50%) and an individual tutor assessment (50%).