Urban Innovation and Policy MPA

Cities are now recognised as critical levers for social, economic and environmental change. They are home to more than half the world’s population and account for nearly seventy per cent of the world’s carbon emissions.

Increasingly, cities are seeking new innovations and policy strategies to solve urban challenges and tackle pressing issues such as growth, climate change and social inequality. However, the practice of enabling change and deploying innovation is challenging. Urban policy professionals need specific skills and expertise on how change happens, and the processes by which innovations or experiments can be piloted, evaluated and scaled.

This MPA helps students to develop the skills and expertise required to work in the public, private or third sectors, helping to find solutions to major urban challenges. The programme covers a range of urban challenges, tackling key questions such as:

• What roles do the government, private firms and NGOs play in shaping social, economic, environmental or technological change in cities?
• How could emerging forms of technological or policy innovation help address pressing issues like urban inequality, air pollution or car-dependence?
• Are smart technologies changing our cities for the better, enabling more efficient monitoring and measurement of urban systems, or for the worse, ushering in a new era of urban surveillance?
• What will it take to decarbonise our urban economies and infrastructures, and adapt to a changing climate?
• What is the role of the arts and culture in shaping change in cities?