Graduate / Dual Degrees
Urban Design (M.U.P./M.U.D.)
The planning/urban design graduate dual degree is a student-initiated dual degree. Students who are especially interested in urban design and in physical aspects of the city and of urban development may decide to enroll in both the master of urban planning and the master of urban design programs. Students who want to enter a design-based planning practice may benefit from the additional design education that the urban design curriculum provides.
Although the master of urban design is primarily for students who already have a master of architecture, master of landscape architecture, or master of urban planning degree, students enrolled in the Urban and Regional Planning Program may apply to work toward the M.U.D. beginning in their second year of study. A student entering the Urban and Regional Planning Program with a very strong design background or with a bachelor of architecture may apply to begin the dual degree in the first year of study toward M.U.P.
An urban and regional planning student without an M.Arch. or M.L.A. degree who intends to apply for study toward the M.U.D. should take UP 518 and UP 519 in his or her first year in the M.U.P. and should enroll in the Arch 402 studio in the summer before the beginning of the second year of study.
Student Profile
Scott Curry, M.U.P./M.U.D. 2010, is currently pursuing a master in urban planning and a master in urban design. Scott graduated from Ball State University in 2007 with a bachelor degree in urban planning and development and a minor in economics. Initially, Scott believed he was most interested in architecture.
“Not unlike many planning students, I enrolled in a school of architecture and planning thinking that architecture was what life had in store,” he said, “but I kept an open mind.”
He found that he was more intrigued by the urban planning courses he took.
“Urban planning seemed to offer so much in terms of genuine social impact, as well as professional opportunity,” he said.
After graduation, Scott hopes to work in a major metropolitan area for a planning, design, or architecture firm as an urban designer. His goal is to “;engage the scale of the built environment that seems to be addressed through urban design and physical planning.”
Degree Requirements
The M.U.P./M.U.D. is a 73-credit-hour program that can be completed in two and one-half to three years. Students take 48 credits in urban and regional planning and 39 credits in urban design with 14 of these credits counted in both programs. In urban and regional planning students usually choose a concentration in physical planning and urban design or in land use and environmental planning. Students meet the specific requirements of both degrees. Because the M.U.D. is a second professional degree, dual degree candidates for M.U.D./M.U.P. must plan to receive the M.U.P. first or to receive the degrees concurrently.
