Sustainable Cities MSc

Course overview

Cities across the world are facing huge sustainability challenges. While mayors and city councils pledge ‘zero carbon cities’ by 2040, a serious skills shortage means a new generation of sustainability leaders is needed.

Our Sustainable Cities MSc tackles this skills shortage by equipping you with the knowledge and tools necessary to become an urban sustainability leader. On this programme you'll experience urban sustainability first hand, blending concepts and theories with real-world problems and solutions.

You'll learn about energy systems, transport networks, housing provision, urban ecosystems and food. Using applied cases, you'll discover how these systems can be transformed to produce better economic, environmental, and social outcomes, meaning you’ll be fully equipped to pursue careers in city government, consultancy, NGOs and beyond.

Throughout your course, there’ll be input from across several of our Schools – all of which conduct internationally excellent research that addresses and challenges global environmental issues, ensuring you’ll be learning the most topical and up-to-date information in this field.

Applying

Entry requirements

A bachelor degree with a 2:1 (hons) in a natural, environmental, physical, management or social science subject.

We welcome students, from a range of disciplines, who want to engage in new thinking around sustainable cities. You are highly likely to benefit from this MSc if you have a background, interest or a qualification in: geography, town planning, earth and environment, architecture, sustainability, engineering, business and management, sociology, politics or public administration.

Applicants with any of the following will be considered on a case-by-case basis:

• A bachelor degree with a 2:2 (hons) in one of the above subjects where applicants can demonstrate significant relevant work experience in a relevant specialist field.
• Professional qualifications and relevant experience.

International

We accept a range of international equivalent qualifications. For more information, please contact the Admissions Team.

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component.. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Science (6 weeks) and Language for Science: General Science (10 weeks).

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional and our 10 week online pre-sessional.

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.

Career opportunities

Almost every organisation of any size now has a net zero strategy, and they need people to deliver that. That's why the demand for qualified specialists in this field is only going to grow, with a large scope of exciting career opportunities available.

This course will give you the practical skills needed to pursue a career in city or urban governance and planning, infrastructure and sustainability consulting, policy analysis and development, environmental and urban consultancy, corporate social responsibility, environmental management and management systems, sustainability NGOs or PhD study.

Plus, University of Leeds students are among the top 5 most targeted by top employers according to The Graduate Market 2024, High Fliers Research, meaning our graduates are highly sought after by some of the most reputable companies in the field. We offer extra support and activities to help you stand out in your chosen field and achieve your career goals.

Here’s a snapshot into some of the job positions and organisations previous graduates in sustainability-related MScs have secured:

• Procurement Operations Coordinator, South Pole
• Sustainability Programme Lead, Pierce County
• Sustainability Consultant, ARUP
• Energy and Sustainability Specialist, Bulb
• Industry Consultation Manager, Network Rail
• Energy Research Analyst, N-ERGY Power Solutions
• Sustainability Project Manager, City of York Council
• Sustainability and Climate Change Consultant, WSP Global