MSc Environment and

Sustainable Development
Articulating a theoretical and practical understanding of
socio-environmental change, equipping participants
with critical and grounded capacities to promote
environmental justice in the urban context of the Global South
The BartIett Development Planning Unit
Development Planning Unit | The Bartlett | University College London
34 Tavistock Square, London, WC1H 9EZ www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu
Tel: +44 (0)20 7679 1111 Fax: +44 (0)20 7679 1112
course director
Dr Adriana Allen
course co-director
Pascale Hofmann
other members of staff
Dr Vanesa Castan Broto, tienne von Bertrab, Rita Lambert
Professor Yves Cabannes, Professor David Satterthwaite,
Dr David Dodman, Dr Robert Biel, Dr Zeremarian Fre, Dr Liza Griffn
core and optionaI moduIes
The Political Ecology of Environmental Change; Urban Environmental Planning
and Management in Development; Sustainable nfrastructure and Services in
Development; Urban Water and Sanitation: Planning and Politics; Environment
and Sustainable Development in Practice; Urban Agriculture; Adapting Cities to
Climate Change in the Global South
overview In recent decades, the con-
cept of Sustainable Development (SD)
has been rapidly popularised and main-
streamed by local, national and international
organisations, broadly described as an en-
visioning strategy to ensure the articulation
opportunities The course attracts
participants from a wide variety of disci-
plines, including anthropologists, econo-
mists, geographers, political and natural
scientists, as well as planners, architects
and engineers.
of environmental justice and sustainability
into developmental strategies. Concurrently,
this debate has seen the expansion of a rich
body of theory and planning practice con-
cerned with the specic challenges faced
by cities in the global south.
In this context, a central concern of the
course is to equip participants with a critical
understanding of the SD theoretical debate
and practice, unveiling the political, social
and economic forces underlying environ-
mental conicts and exploring concrete ap-
proaches to address their causes. Through
critical analysis of the relationship between
environmental justice and sustainability, and
policies and processes of urban transfor-
mation, the programme seeks to provide
participants with the capacities and skills
required to generate transformative social
and environmental change; to support en-
vironmentally just urbanisation against the
backdrop of a changing climate, resource
scarcities, and ecosystem degradation, as
well as high inequality in the distribution of
environmental burdens and benets within
urban regions of the global south.
Since its inception in 1997, over 350 stu-
dents have successfully completed the
ESD course. Many are engaged in profes-
sional activities, ranging from local and
national government, consultancy rms
and national and international NGOs, to
United Nations programmes and interna-
tional aid agencies the world over. Exam-
ples include:
- Public sector: DEFRA and DfID (UK),
Brazils Ministerio das Cidades and many
other local government organisations;
- International Agencies and NGOs: UNEP,
UNDP, UN-Habitat, JICA, GIZ (formerly
GTZ), InsightShare, Save the Children and
WWF;
- Think Tanks, academic and research
organisations such as: IIED, Stockholm
Environment Institute, Resources for De-
velopment Center, WaterWise and The
Arab Academy for Science, Technology &
Maritime Transport;
- Private companies, such as Happold-
Consulting, EcoSecurities, Bloomberg
New Energy Finance, Dialogue By Design
and BioRegionalQuintain.
structure The course consists of 180
credits. 120 of these are achieved through
taught components, which are undertaken
over three terms; the nal 60 credits are
gained through the dissertation report, which
is completed over the summer term. Of the
taught credits, 75% are devoted to the core
subjects of planning, sustainability, environ-
mental justice, urbanisation and development
and 25% to additional option modules.
The core modules provide the theoretical
and methodological components of the
course while the specialist module allows
students to further explore their specic
interests. Core modules include: The Politi-
cal Ecology of Environmental Change and
Environment and Sustainable Development
in Practice (30 credits each). The remain-
ing 30 credits are achieved through either
Urban Environmental Planning and Man-
agement in Development (30 credits), or a
combination of Sustainable Infrastructure
and Services in Development and Urban
Water and Sanitation: Planning and Politics
(15 credits each).
The course is delivered through lectures,
seminars, workshops, and eldwork in the
UK and overseas. Students will be expected
to read widely and hone their written and
oral communication skills through course-
work, examinations and group work, which
form the core means of assessment.
for more info and to apply: www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/dpu and then programmes, postgraduate, esd
MSc Environment and
Sustainable Development