Sustainable Lands and Cities MSc, PgCert, PgDip

A new, interdisciplinary degree with Edinburgh Futures Institute

The climate emergency brings an urgent awareness of the inter-relationships between land and human development. The pervasive exploitation of natural systems means populations face fundamental challenges for their future.

Sustainable Lands and Cities brings together people who are committed to creating, shaping, and conserving sustainable communities. The programme is designed for both recent graduates and professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds in the public, private, and third sectors.

This programme focuses on the fundamental nature of land; how it can be defined, understood, managed and used.

The programme equips you with the skills to influence and create resilient and sustainable relationships between lands and cities. This will be explored in both rural and urban environments, harnessing practices of smart growth, understanding planetary boundaries, and advocacy for justice and equity.

Postgraduate study at the Edinburgh Futures Institute

This programme is part of an interconnected portfolio of postgraduate study opportunities at Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI).

The Futures Institute supports interdisciplinary teaching, learning and research that is focused on complex global and social challenges. Our programmes are taught by academic experts from many different subject areas.

As a Futures Institute student, you should be proactive and motivated. You will be supported to develop creative, critical, and data-informed thinking that cuts across traditional disciplinary boundaries. You will have the space to think deeply about questions linked to your own passions and professional goals and will develop a project based on an issue that you care about.

As well as knowledge specific to your area of study, studying at Edinburgh Futures Institute will give you the skills and understanding you need to become a creative, confident, and critical citizen in a fast-changing world.

These skills include:

• the ability to interrogate issues of global scope using perspectives from across disciplines
• creative and analytic approaches to knowledge
• core data skills
• data ethics

You can join us regardless of whether you already have experience or practical skills in the use and application of digital data.

These entry requirements are for the 2025/26 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2026/27 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2025.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in any discipline.

We will also consider your application if you have other professional qualifications or experience; please contact us to check before you apply. In particular, we welcome applications from professionals with experience (e.g. working in companies, government, or third sector organisations) designing or implementing projects, programmes, or policies that aim to diminish inequalities.

Students from China

This degree is Band C.

• Postgraduate entry requirements for students from China

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country

English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency which will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 100 with at least 23 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 185 with at least 176 in each component.
• Trinity ISE: ISE III with passes in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 73 with at least 65 in each component. We do not accept PTE Academic Online.
• Oxford ELLT: 8 overall with at least 7 in each component.

Unless you are a national of a majority English speaking country, your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start of the month in which the programme you are applying to study begins. If you are using an IELTS, PTE Academic, TOEFL, Trinity ISE, or Oxford ELLT test, it must be no more than two years old on the first of the month in which the programme begins, regardless of your nationality. (Revised 14 January 2025 to include Oxford ELLT.)

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

• English language requirements

The core elements of this programme address the data and higher-order skills we know are important for the future of work, confident and critical citizenship, and a thriving, just society. Graduates will be able to work collaboratively to create and execute sustainable strategies in the workplace. Our graduates will have cross-disciplinary skills and understanding to support decision-making in complex environments.

Graduates have a range of career opportunities available, both for existing professionals and newer entrants to the job market including:

• public, private and voluntary sector organisations with an increasing need to respond and create sustainable development policy, drivers and targets
• consultancy and environmental planning sector which is developing multidisciplinary interventions to address and mitigate climate change
• businesses and commercial operators looking to anticipate and engage with new perceptions and policy frameworks for climate change

Graduates of this programme will be able to:

• create commercial and sustainable strategies to meet both business needs and ethical requirements
• respond to a broad range of challenges applicable in different professions and organisations
• specialise in sustainable development across a range of sectors and roles, for example in:
  • planning
  • engineering
  • design
  • project management
  • the environmental sciences
  • public administration
  • law and advocacy