It is well known that the world is transitioning to an irrevocable urban future whose epicentre has moved into the cities of Asia and Africa, which together will account for 86% of all growth in the world’s urban population over the next four
decades.

This unprecedented increase will pose new environmental, economic and social challenges, the full implications of which demand new understandings as city-making and remaking are entangled in these vast multi-dimensional shifts. These shifts also highlight a profound crisis of knowledge production, one that forces us to question taken-for-granted ssumptions of the field of Urban Studies. What is needed is critical engagement with the dominant Global North
theories, bold methodological experimentation, plural perspectives brought into conversation through co-production  and critical inquiry from a Global South perspective that resists easy generalisations.

If you are interested in taking up this challenge, the MPhil in Southern Urbanism is your learning platform. Through a combination of guided learning in small-group seminars, experimentation in various spaces of urban practice and  independent thesis research, the programme provides a truly unique opportunity to ground yourself in the realities, theories and practise of cities of the Global South.

The MPhil curriculum combines course work (50%) and a minor dissertation (50%), a full-time load completed over a period of 18 – 24 months. The language of instruction is English.

In year one students complete the Masters coursework, which includes a compulsory City Research Studio, a choice of two of three interdisciplinary urban modules, and an urban-focused elective.

In year two students write individual minor dissertations based on their own fieldwork, and supervised by expert faculty in either the Humanities, Engineering and the Built Environment, or Science Faculties at the University of Cape Town.

Deadline for SA and International candidates: 31 October 2024