Berkeley Master of Urban Design Students Engage Local Communities to Imagine the California of the Future

Fifteen UC Berkeley Master of Urban Design students watched as farmers, small business owners, government agency officials, representatives from Indigenous tribes, and interested citizens filed into the exhibition hall in the John Steinbeck Center. For months, the students had been developing ideas for dynamic agritourism in California's Salinas Valley. But they never expected so many people to show up to listen to their presentations.

"They were eager to see our work. It was humbling, and empowering, to realize that we could have a real impact on people's lives through urban design," remembers one of the participating students. 

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The San Francisco Bay region, looking east from San Francisco to Berkeley and Mt. Diablo. Image: sfmthd / Adobe Stock

Study urban design in California, where the future happens first

Berkeley's post-professional Master of Urban Design program is the only one of its kind in California. And California is the ideal laboratory for creating new forms of socially and environmentally resilient urbanism.

With a diverse population of 40 million, who live in megacities and small rural towns —  and everything in between — California offers boundless opportunities. Always at the cutting edge, California is at the forefront of progressive policies and innovative solutions to meet the challenges of a changing climate and rising socioeconomic inequality.

In this context, Berkeley's urban design students move past conventional design approaches by expanding their understanding of the forces that shape places. Working with faculty from architecture, landscape architecture, and city planning gives them a range of analytic and design tools. 

'We push students to understand places at multiple scales and as the result of specific social, political, and economic histories,' says Scott Elder, program chair. 

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Mapping the Salinas Valley in Berkeley MUD studio. Image: Courtesy College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley
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A Berkeley MUD student project for Emeryville, California. Image: Courtesy College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley
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Courtesy of College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley

Berkeley urban design students tackle multiple issues in sponsored design studios  

Collaborating with communities across California on proposals that balance competing needs and interests is one of the hallmarks of Berkeley's Master of Urban Design. Over the course of three semesters, students research and design alternative futures for dense post-industrial cities like Emeryville and Richmond in the inner Bay Area and small towns in rural regions like the Salinas Valley.

"Our program attracts professionals and sponsors interested in broadening the scope of urban design, from local design firms to Pinnacles National Park. These relationships encourage us to ground speculation in real-world conditions," says Faculty Director Margaret Crawford. 

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Berkeley MUD students collaborating in design studio. Image: Courtesy College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley
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Berkeley MUD students explore Pinnacles National Park, the site of a studio sponsored by the park. Image: Courtesy College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley
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Program director Scott Elder works with a student at the beginning of the design process for the Pinnacles National Park studio. Image: Courtesy College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley

"One of the best things about the program is that it's focused around real-time projects and interactions with government agencies and organizations, but it also creates opportunities for experimental thinking," says Shivani Vinayak Atre (MUD 2025).

Good urban design is about people

'We encourage our students to design for specific communities, not just specific places. What drives urban designers is the desire to activate social experiences,' says Elder.

For example, students proposed inserting public spaces into Emeryville's dense urban fabric and opening up a nature preserve in Richmond to enable residents of a historically Black subdivision to access San Francisco Bay for the first time. 

At Berkeley, "we understand that urban design transcends physical planning — it is about envisioning and fostering the social and emotional fabrics of urban life," says Nupur Khanter, who graduated from the program in 2024.

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UC Berkeley MUD final review, first semester Richmond, California, studio. Image: Courtesy College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley
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Bauer Wurster Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, home of the College of Environmental Design and the Master of Urban Design program. Image: Courtesy College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley

From California to the world... 

Students who graduate from Berkeley's Master of Urban Design program take the lessons they learned in California and apply them in other parts of the country — and the world — that are also seeking sustainable forms of human-centered urban development.

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Mapping Richmond, California. Image: Courtesy College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley

"The program provides us with the tools to pursue a courageous future that advocates for spatial equity and resilience. We envision ourselves contributing to city development and inclusive design within governmental, corporate, and nonprofits," says current Berkeley student Styliani Kalomoira Kontogianni. "The future is bright and we're all here for it!"

Applications are now open for Berkeley's one-year post-professional Master of Urban Design!

Cite: "Berkeley Master of Urban Design Students Engage Local Communities to Imagine the California of the Future" 18 Oct 2024. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1021993/berkeley-master-of-urban-design-students-engage-local-communities-to-imagine-the-california-of-the-future> ISSN 0719-8884

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