Globally, over 50% of the population lives in urban areas; and moving towards urbanization is accelerating. As urban populations grow, the housing gap will widen, exacerbating inequality and threatening the traditional view of cities as reliable drivers of economic growth. Though providing affordable, adequate and secure housing is a basic human need, housing provision persists a key urban challenge worldwide. The Housing Architecture and Urban Development (HAUD) program aims at preparing architects and urban planners specialized in housing and the built environment design for sustainable urban development. Graduates go on to obtain professional degrees in architectural engineering with specialization in housing and urban development.

The program is focusing on the technical, aesthetic and cultural components of design for housing and public buildings. Moreover, it qualifies graduates with all necessary competences to design and to understand the housing market and real estate development as well as to use digital technologies and tools to generate and analyse spatial data. Graduates will gain knowledge in housing typology, provision, policies, finance, legislation, and management and will be able to produce integrated architecture documents, and land mapping. The HAUD emphasizes the integration of social, economic, environmental, along with physical aspects to create safe, inclusive, healthy, and sustainable cities. It introduces graduates to contemporary trends and practices in housing industry and urban development schemes such as smart housing/cities as well as principles of Sustainable Development Goals. The program will prepare graduates to take leading roles in the professional practice in the field of architecture, housing and urban development on local and international level.

• Department: Urban Design and Urban Planning