Source: Taubman College
Dean Jonathan Massey in front of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
Dean Jonathan Massey in front of the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning
“I want to empower students to leverage AI so that they can lead with curiosity and empathy in undertaking socially relevant, ecologically minded work.”
“I want to leverage the scaling capacity of technology so that people can lead the lives they want.”
“I want to create a future in which designers have the business and tech chops to make their ideas happen.”
Last September, a group of Taubman College faculty, alumni and advisers gathered to workshop a new graduate degree addressing emergent needs and methods in our fields.
The master’s degree will be among the first educational offerings at the new University of Michigan Center for Innovation, which will open in Detroit in fall 2027. Envisioned as a world-class research, education, and entrepreneurship center, UMCI aims to strengthen Detroit and Michigan as a whole by enhancing the knowledge and skills of current and future residents in technology, entrepreneurship, and other forms of innovation.
Building on a year of meetings with faculty and consultation with industry experts, we used design thinking to focus ideas and prioritize competing goals. The fields of architecture, planning and real estate are changing, and we started by articulating some desires — including the examples above — for ways that Taubman College can transform the educational experience to help people lead those changes.
Our guiding question: How can we equip students to shape the built environment beyond existing roles and degree pathways?
Working through a series of prompts, several whiteboards, and, yes, many sticky notes, we set parameters for a one-year graduate program that equips students with the systems and business models to improve housing, water, mobility, and other urban systems. Unlike competitor programs, it would employ technology to grow student agency, build entrepreneurial sensibility, and create impactful solutions.
The result of all that planning is a new Master of Urban Technology that, pending university and state approval, we will announce this summer for a fall 2027 launch. This degree addresses the growing field in which people use data and technology to make cities work better for people and the planet.
In this effort, the new program aligns with two additional Look to Michigan impact areas: Advanced Technology and Energy, Climate Action, Sustainability and Environmental Equity. It also builds on our success in creating a first-of-its-kind undergraduate degree.
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