Environmental Architecture and Urban Design MA

Environments across the world are transforming at a remarkable speed. Prolonged heat and drought are followed by intense rainfall and flooding; changing climates reshape how we live, move, source energy and share habitats. At the same time, technological and social change is transforming how we work, relate, and care for one another. Established distinctions between architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and environmental practice are increasingly inadequate for engaging with these interconnected conditions. The Environmental Architecture & Urban Design MA brings these fields into productive dialogue, exploring how design can engage with the ecological, social, and political processes shaping contemporary life. Through design-action research, studio practice, and fieldwork, you’ll work across disciplines and scales to understand complex environments, develop forms of intervention, and define your own position within an expanding field of spatial practice. The programme understands spatial change as inseparable from questions of organisation and collective life. New spatial arrangements – and new uses of existing ones – can require new forms of stewardship, governance and participation. You’ll explore how design can contribute not only to different environments, but to different relationships between people, institutions and the more-than-human worlds they inhabit. Bring environmental thinking and urban design into productive dialogue. Work with communities and institutions on urgent environmental, spatial and urban challenges. Connect transformative design approaches with policy, fieldwork and speculation to enact change. Develop your design practice within the justice-oriented, experimental, collaborative, and interdisciplinary culture of the RCA.

We are looking for interdisciplinary thinkers and practitioners who want to engage critically and creatively with the environmental and urban conditions shaping contemporary life, and to explore spatial design as a means of contributing to more just and environmentally responsive futures. The selection process considers creativity, imagination and transformative thinking as demonstrated in your portfolio, as well as your potential to benefit from the programme and to achieve high MA standards overall.A prior design degree is strongly recommended, but we welcome applications from candidates with a wide-range of academic and professional backgrounds, including those looking for a career change and those engaged in spatial and environmental activism. Applicants may come from architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, urban planning and other spatial design disciplines, as well as social and environmental sciences, geography, urban studies, fine art, planning policy, economics, NGOs and the public sector.We are particularly interested in the different forms of knowledge, experience and ambition that students bring to the programme. We do not expect applicants to arrive with expertise across both environmental architecture and urban design. Rather, we look for candidates who can contribute a distinct perspective to a multidisciplinary cohort and who are curious and open to engaging with methods, ideas and forms of practice beyond their existing disciplinary background.Applicants from architecture and related spatial disciplines may be seeking to extend their practice through engagement with urban and institutional design, large-scale environmental and ecological projects, and spatial systems. Applicants from other disciplines and forms of practice should demonstrate how their existing knowledge, experience and interests might contribute to design-led inquiry and collaborative learning within the programme.Evidence of intellectual and professional curiosity, openness to collaboration, and a readiness to be challenged and engage in a rigorous and demanding period of study is essential.Portfolio requirementsWe recognise that applicants will bring different disciplinary backgrounds, methods and technical skills. If you are not from a design background, we encourage you to demonstrate how you have investigated environmental, urban or spatial issues through your own field of practice, communicating your work visually, materially and/or in writing.When preparing your portfolio, we encourage you to prioritise projects or other work that demonstrate:An ability to investigate complex environmental, urban or spatial conditions and develop original responses through research, design or other forms of critical practice.Creativity and critical thinking, demonstrated through projects, research, writing, visual communication or other forms of practice.Technical and representational skills appropriate to your disciplinary background. These may include drawing, mapping, model making, digital modelling, GIS, visualisation, film, photography, animation, coding, exhibition design, writing or other relevant media. If applying from a non-design background, please don’t worry if your work looks different from a conventional design portfolio. We welcome applications that communicate ideas clearly through the methods, media and forms of evidence most appropriate to your own experience and way of working.Research methods such as fieldwork, archival research, interviews, documentary practices, environmental analysis, mapping, data analysis or other investigative approaches.Collaboration experience, where appropriate, including work with communities, institutions, interdisciplinary teams or external partners.Personal statementPlease provide a 300-word written personal statement that addresses the following points:Introduce yourself, your interests and your motivations for applying to the Royal College of Art, and to this programme in particular.Briefly summarise any educational background and professional experience to date that will support your application.Tell us what you want to do in the future.Video requirements