Advanced Urbanism

The Norman B. Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism (LCAU), together with the Department of Architecture and Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), have established a collaborative, doctoral-level concentration in advanced urbanism. Advanced urbanism at MIT integrates research on urban design, urbanization, and urban culture. This doctoral concentration is intended for those who have at least one professional design degree (in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, etc.). A successful applicant will have research interests in urbanism that align with faculty research in both Architecture and DUSP. In this spirit, the student’s dissertation committee is expected to include faculty from both departments. More broadly, an advanced urbanism student is expected to engage with the research community at the LCAU and within their home department throughout their time at MIT.

Admissions

Admissions applications are submitted either to the DUSP PhD program or the Building Technology, Design and Computation, or History, Theory and Criticism of Architecture and Art program in the Department of Architecture. The application deadline for Architecture PhD programs is December 31; the application deadline for the DUSP PhD program is January 3.

Applicants must meet all admissions requirements of the respective PhD program and should indicate their interest in an advanced urbanism doctoral fellowship in their applications. During application review, the departmental admissions committees will identify strong applicants who fit the advanced urbanism program profile and nominate them for further consideration by a joint advanced urbanism admissions committee. Applicants selected by this joint committee would, in turn, be admitted as part of the regular PhD admissions process.

Degree Requirements

Students are expected to complete all the doctoral requirements of their home department plus additional requirements for the advanced urbanism concentration. See each department or LCAU for information on specific requirements.

Financial Support

Tuition support and research assistantships are provided by LCAU. Additional details can be found on the LCAU website.