MSc Global Urban Development and Planning

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2027, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MSc (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £13,200
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £32,000

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

An overseas field visit is an optional part of the course.

Please note there is a student contribution towards the cost of the trip depending on the location.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

• Information on university funding, loans, and scholarships are available on the master’s student funding page .

• Funding for EU and international students is on our country-specific pages .

PART 1: Introduction
1) Introduction: Global overview of economic dimensions and associated concepts, frameworks and approaches
2) Introduction: Global overview of social dimensions and associated concepts, frameworks and approaches
PART 2: Causes, consequences, and manifestations of inequality
3) Settlement: land, services and housing
4) Migration
5) Climate Change
6) Health
7) Water
PART 3: Responses to inequality
8) Individual and household responses: patron-client relationships and the limitations of household agency
9) Institutionalised responses: social movements and an engagement with the political agencies and systems.

The overall aim of this course unit is to examine the key concepts, frameworks, issues and debates in relation to inequalities in Southern towns and cities. We also look globally, to see what we can learn from comparisons across the Global North and South. More specifically, this course aims to offer:

• An introduction to the concept of inequality and the social, political, economic and spatial dimensions through which inequality is realised and experienced in Southern cities.
• An analysis of these dimensions of inequality within key recent urban concepts, agendas and policies, including ‘the right to the city’, the new urban agenda and SDG Goal 11.
• An analysis of the causes of inequality in its different dimensions, looking in particular at social, political, economic and spatial inequalities.
• An analysis of how processes of inequality may be changing as a result of urban development investments or processes or as a result of external influences like climate change.
• An analysis of how these concepts and experiences of urban inequality may differ across the Global North and South, and whether North-South comparisons can provide a useful lens for our understanding of urban inequalities.
• An analysis of how inequality might be addressed, through a consideration and analysis of responses to inequality.

Lectures and Tutorials

Evaluate trends in urban inequality and how these fit within recent urban concepts, agendas and policies.

Analyse the concept of inequality, along social, political, economic and spatial dimensions.

Debate the strengths and limitations of these theories for understanding urban inequality and of the data that we have available for this purpose.

Apply theories of inequality to different urban sectors, settings and contexts to explore and analyse how different types of inequalities may differ across these.

Debate the relative merits and pitfalls of analysing urban inequalities across cities of the North and South.

Analyse the strengths and weaknesses of key strategies and mechanisms to address inequality in urban settings.

Have confidence working in small teams of classmates.

Have confidence in presenting to the class.

Build skills of collaboration in designing and conducting small research projects to research urban inequalities.

• Self awareness and an ability to take responsibility for your own learning
• Time management
• Confidence in justifying your arguments in front of others

• One group-based essay (no more than 1,500 words) — 40%
• Written essay (no more than 2,500 words) — 60%

Detailed summative written feedback on the two assessments will be provided via VLE. In addition, there is an opportunity for in-class interactions and formative feedback on an essay outline (no more than one page in bullet points) for Assignment 2.  

Environment and Urbanization special issue on City Inequality (8:2, 1996)

Mitlin, D. and D. Satterthwaite, 2012, 'Critical issues in urban inequality', in, D. Mitlin and D. Satterthwaite, Urban Poverty in the Global South: Scale and Nature (p214-278).

Shatkin, G 2007 Global Cities of the South: Emerging perspectives on growth and inequality, Cities 24(1)

Stewart, F. (2001) Horizontal Inequalities: a neglected dimension of development. WIDER 2001 Annual Development Lecture http://www.crise.ox.ac.uk/pubs/workingpaper1.pdf

Urban Age (2009) Cities and Social Equity, Detailed report, available from the Urban Age website http://www.urban-age.net/

Walton, M et al (2008) (eds.) Institutional Pathways to Equity: Addressing Inequality Traps, World Bank, Washington