City Design and Social Science

Entry requirements

Upper second class honours (2:1) degree or equivalent professional qualifications or experience in any relevant field of architecture, urban design, planning, engineering, social science, law and humanities, management, mathematics, statistics or natural science.

Months of entry

September

Course content

About the MSc programme

The MSc City Design and Social Science focuses on the relations between the social and spatial organisation of cities and urban environments.

We see design as a field of research, knowledge and practice that shapes urban environments, responds to urban problems, and integrates social, spatial and political approaches to the city. This ground-breaking programme was launched in 1998. It supports the development of interdisciplinary urban practitioners and scholars who can work across professional divides to have a positive impact on cities as both social and built environments.

This innovative, interdisciplinary programme sets the complex challenges of city design and development in their social, economic, environmental and political contexts. It is unique as a studio-based master’s with a strong orientation to practice. The programme attracts students from different academic and professional backgrounds, reflecting the range of skills involved in urban policy, design and development today. Each year, around 40 per cent of our student intake comes from architecture, urban design, planning or engineering, with around 60 per cent coming from backgrounds in social, economic and management science, law, humanities and the natural sciences.

You will leave the programme with a well-rounded set of research, analytical and practical skills for the design, development and implementation of urban projects across the public, private and community sectors, and the ability to work creatively and effectively across disciplinary boundaries.

Department of Sociology

Established in 1904, the Department of Sociology at LSE is committed to empirically rich, conceptually sophisticated, and socially and politically relevant research and scholarship.

As a Department, we seek to produce sociology that is public-facing, fully engaged with London as a global city, and with major contemporary debates in the intersection between economy, politics and society – with issues such as financialisation, inequality, migration, urban ecology, and climate change.

Information for international students

LSE is an international community, with over 140 nationalities represented amongst its student body. We celebrate this diversity through everything we do.

If you are applying to LSE from outside of the UK then take a look at our Information for International students.

Fees and funding

Fees

Every graduate student is charged a fee for their programme. Visit the website for more information about the fees.

Funding

The School recognises that the cost of living in London may be higher than in your home town or country, and we provide generous scholarships each year to home and overseas students.

This programme is eligible for needs-based awards from LSE, including the Graduate Support Scheme, Master's Awards, and Anniversary Scholarships.

Selection for any funding opportunity is based on receipt of an application for a place – including all ancillary documents, before the funding deadline.

In addition to our needs-based awards, LSE also makes available scholarships for students from specific regions of the world and awards for students studying specific subject areas.

Find out more about financial support.