
Urban and territorial design lies at the core of complex spatial questions and increasing urgencies. From drivers of progress to the source of planetary hazards, the impacts of cities and urbanisation processes are being recast in the public sphere. The critical examination of anthropocentric world views, the greening of politics and economies, growing social polarisation and uneven development, protest movements and climate activism, are reflected in urban and territorial space, highlighting power asymmetries and the urgent need for alternatives. The future of the urban engages social and environmental imaginaries, which now extend beyond-the-city and beyond-the-human. Rather than an object, we understand territory as a subject in dialogue with other subjects, and space as an agent of socioecological change. The MAS programme embraces such a transition as a field of critical and imaginative investigation based on the principles of social and environmental equity and justice. Engaging with notions of transformation, reuse, circularity, regeneration, reparation, and transition of habitats and ecologies, the MAS deploys the urban and territorial project as a means to explore common epistemic horizons and new biopolitical paradigms, and as a crucial field of knowledge production across scales.
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, where design is explored as a tool for synthesis within inter- and transdisciplinary exchange involving science, practice and governance. The extended scope of urban design teaching includes 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 agricultural ecology, systems thinking, sustainable construction, renewable energy, and low-carbon mobility. Public debates with innovative thinkers and practitioners an integral part of the programme.
The MAS serves as a laboratory and a forum where we propose agendas, design strategies and governance models for concrete territories. 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.
Structure and content
Objectives
Professional perspectives
Structure and format
Additional information
A continuation of the highly successful MAS in Urban Design directed by Professor Marc Angélil, which addressed urban design in a globalised world, the new MAS is embedded within the broader context of ETH’s LUS Institute, the FCL Global project New Urban Agendas and EPFL’s Habitat Research Center. It initiates a hallmark collaboration between ETH Zurich and EPFL assuring an outstanding environment of expertise and teaching resources. The curriculum brings together urban studies, postcolonial thought and the Anthropocene, and offers a deeper understanding of cultural and ecological dimensions of territories, urban and landscape ecology, sustainable construction, and low carbon mobility.
Tuition language(s)
English
Credits
Target group and admission
Target group
Requirements
Language(s) of performance assessment
Dates and venue
Start
Duration
Location
Fees
Programme fee
CHF 15,500
Application fee
Withdrawal fee
- Within 30 days after the admission date: free of charge
- More than 30 days after the admission date: CHF 5,000
- After the start of the semester: CHF 7,750
Collaborating Teams
ETH Architecture of Territory
LUS Institute
Assoc. Prof. Milica Topalović
www.topalovic.arch.ethz.ch
EPF Habitat Research Centre (HRC)
Laboratory of Urbanism (Lab-U)
Prof. Paola Viganò
www.epfl.ch/labs/lab-u/
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
The new MAS in Urban and Territorial Design is part of, and administered and supported by, the ETH School for Continuing Education. Click here for further details and here for an explanation of the application procedure.
For any clarifications concerning the programme, tuition fees, scholarships and how to apply, please contact us:
Contacts
MAS UTD – ETHZ / EPFL Programme Coordinators
Tommaso Pietropolli
Nancy Couling
Past news and events
12.09.2023
MAS Urban and Territorial Design –Opening Day 2023-24 and Graduation Ceremony 2022-23






Urban and Environmental Theory Sessions Autumn 2023
26.01.2022
MAS ETH EPFL UTD – fall 2021 Closing Remarks











Photo: © MAS ETH EPFL UTD Murielle Gerber 2022
20.12.2021
MAS ETH EPFL UTD – Autumn 2021 Final Review












Photos: © MAS ETH EPFL UTD Anna Karla Almeida 2021
15.09.2021
Opening day of the new MAS in Urban and Territorial Design – MAS ETH EPFL UTD


















Photos: © MAS ETH EPFL UTD Murielle Gerber 2021
Urban and Environmental Theory Sessions Autumn 2021
07.10.2021
MAS ETH EPFL UTD – Urban and Environmental Theory Session #1
21.10.2021
MAS ETH EPFL UTD – Urban and Environmental Theory Session #2
03.11.2021
MAS ETH EPFL UTD – Urban and Environmental Theory Session #3
18.11.2021
MAS ETH EPFL UTD – Urban and Environmental Theory Session #4
02.12.2021
MAS ETH EPFL UTD – Urban and Environmental Theory Session #5
16.12.2021
MAS ETH EPFL UTD – Urban and Environmental Theory Session #6