Design in City Innovation

Do you want to design a better world – one that’s healthier, more vibrant, sustainable, and equitable? Our new Bachelor of Design in City Innovation (BDCI) degree gives you the tools and skills necessary to create positive change in the built environment and address complex issues affecting cities.  

The BDCI offers a design-based framework for thinking about the world, its challenges, and to create inclusive and sustainable city-focused solutions. Hands-on, studio-based courses that tackle real-world projects, cross-cultural learning opportunities, and classes in advanced digital design tools, data science, entrepreneurship and sustainability, provides  a broader perspective and spark innovation for the betterment of communities and society.

If you’re interested in becoming an architect, planner, landscape architect, or want to pursue another city-building related career in business, law, public policy, social work or entrepreneurship, the BDCI is for you!

Career opportunities

Students pursue the following pathways through the degree, depending on their interests:

1. Licensed architect or landscape architect: apply to one of two concentrations as preparation for professional graduate degree programs in architecture or landscape architecture that lead to licensure;
2. Licensed planner: complete a customized program of study that focuses in area of professional interest as preparation for a graduate planning degree program that leads to licensure;
3. City Innovation careers: create a customized program of study as – 
   • Preparation for entry to a city-building related professional, or graduate program including law, social work, public policy, public health, business, and data science.
   • Direct entry into a city-building related career in the private, public, or non-profit sectors such as public art manager, market research analyst, social programs advisor, neighborhood resource coordinator, community development officer, engagement coordinator, policy analyst, sustainability specialist, and green building analyst, among many others.

Courses in this program

Design studios and technical skill-building courses in architecture, planning, and landscape architecture; Global citizenship courses with topics such as Indigenous design thinking, social justice, history of cities, and design theory; Visualization in two and three dimensions; Introductions to Data Science, Sustainability, and Entrepreneurship; and an exciting suite of elective options where students can finetune the degree to their exact needs. Options include completing a Minor program in Urban Studies, Health and Society, Management and Society, or Data Science.

Program highlights

• Drive city building innovation: Students learn design-thinking skills to create and prototype objects, buildings, city structures, and landscapes projects.
• Engage with studio-based learning: Students learn to develop viable design solutions, mentored by faculty and industry professionals.
• Take on real-world projects: Students work individually and in groups on real-world projects.
• Utilize advanced tools: Students gain technical literacy in 3D modelling, rendering, and graphic design programs, as well as advanced digital fabrication tools, to communicate their designs.