About

The joint Master of Advanced Studies at the ETH Zürich and EPFL builds an innovative urban and territorial design education addressing social and environmental challenges both within the city-territory and across wider landscapes. Design and research studios form the core of the programme. Design is explored as a tool for synthesis in an expanded field of inter- and transdisciplinary exchange. The curriculum extends the scope of urban design teaching, to include both emerging developments in urban theory and a deeper understanding of the cultural and ecological dimensions of territories. Scientific research on planetary urbanisation, postcolonial thought, and the Anthropocene will be engaged in relation to urban design, landscape architecture, urban and landscape ecology, sustainable construction, and low carbon mobility.

The MAS serves as a laboratory and a forum where we propose agendas, design strategies and governance models for concrete territories. Both Swiss and international case studies are investigated through intensive, ethnographic explorations and in situ workshops. The programme engages in dialogue with communities, local actors, NGOs and governance bodies.