Management in the Built Environment

The first year of the Management in the Built Environment track’s programme focuses on the development of core knowledge and skills while the second year focuses on application and synthesis of this knowledge through a graduation project. Students are provided with a coherent overall perspective, giving them a capability to integrate processes, phasing and different scales, while addressing stakeholder concerns.

Freshly started in September 2024?

Did you start freshly this Master track programme in september 2024? Please see your track programme here.

First year (2024-2025)

First semester (MSc1)
MSc1 is oriented towards knowledge acquisition, drawing from both academic sources and illustrative case studies. Two courses offer an introduction to respectively Design and Construction Management and Real Estate Management. Both courses use real life cases.
Design & Construction Management targets the development and management of design and construction at the scale of a building. Management issues regarding the design and the construction of a building are examined on the basis of a real life case.
Real Estate Management is concerned with the supply of and demand for building stock, for private firms as well as public institutions and housing.
The other two courses cover Research Methods (including Data Management and Data Ethics) and Building Economics (including Financial Feasibility of Real Estate Investments).

Second semester (MSc2)
Where the courses in the first semester focus on the scales of the individual building and portfolios, the third quarter focusses on the scale of the urban development project. This is achieved through the Urban Development Management course which looks at the processes involved with the development of larger urban projects. This course includes a game in which you apply the knowledge you gained from literature and cases.
This is complemented with a course on Building Law (including Planning Law).

In the fourth quarter you join one of the (intra)disciplinary courses in which you are challenged to work together with students from other tracks within the Master Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences on overarching themes.

Check the Study Guide for a full overview of the (intra)disciplinary electives available to Management in the Built Environment track students.
To see how the different tracks within the Master AUBS work together, check the list of (intra)disciplinary Q4 electives of all tracks here.

Second year (2025-2026)

From September 2025 the fifth quarter (Q5) allows you to choose electives offered by or in collaboration with other TU Delft faculties, or with public or private partners. This new Q5 offers students the opportunity to gain knowledge and experience from collaborating in projects with other disciplines or challenges found outside the walls of our own faculty. More information on the electives offered in Q5 is available as from April 2025.

Graduation
The last two quarters in the final year you work on your individual graduation project. You can choose from several graduation themes. There is a methodological programme that provides you with sound research methods in support of your graduation project work. Also, a course on Information Management in the Built Environment provides up-to-date knowledge and skills for dealing with data.

Almost all students of MSc track Management in the Built Environment carry out their graduation research project in a company or (non) governmental organisation. This enhances the real life application of the results of the graduation thesis project.

Detailed information on graduation

Cross domain graduation studios
Master students Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences can, instead of the regular graduation themes, choose during their second year for one of the cross domain graduation studios. Students from the Management in the Built Environment track can choose for:

City of the Future

Started in academic year 2023-2024 or earlier?

Master harmonisation 2024-2026

The MSc programme Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences (AUBS) is being harmonised in the academic years 2024-2025 and 2025-2026. The harmonisation in the current academic year focuses only on MSc2 and will start in February 2025. The renewal of the second year (MSc3 & MSc4) will follow from September 2025 onwards.

Haven’t you completed all MSc2 courses in the previous academic year 2023-2024?
If so, you can continue to do so this academic year: enrol for MSc2 courses in the next enrolment period (25 November until 6 December). Check the new or replacement courses in the new MSc2 structure in the Study Guide and Transitional measures 2024-2025 on the Student Portal. Both the AUBS and Geomatics MSc programmes have elective space of 15 EC in Q4. A list of permitted electives for each programme/track is available in the Study guide.
Are you planning to interrupt your studies for the rest of this academic year?
If so, it is best to do this after completing the entire first year. You will then continue your studies from September 2025 onwards, when the new structure of the second year is also in place, with interdisciplinary Q5 electives (15 EC) and a graduation phase covering three quarters (be aware that February 2025 is the last possibility to start graduation in the old structure; more information on the renewed graduation will be available in April/May 2025). For information on temporarily interrupting your studies check the student portal.

Track programme Management in the Built Environment 2023-2025

Attention! This information is only meant for students who started the Track programme Management in the Built Environment in September 2023 or earlier!

In the first year students join the compulsory courses of the track.

From academic year 2024-2025, the following compulsory courses will no longer be offered:

AR2MBE015 Redesign of Complex Projects
AR2MBE021 Building Information Management
AR2MBE025 Urban and Infrastructure (Re)development Game

For replacement courses or extra retake arrangements, please check the Transitional Measures 2024-2025, if you have not completed these courses before 1 September 2024.

Visit the study guide for more information about the courses of year 1.

MSc track Management in the Built Environment requires students to choose 15 EC for electives. Of course, it is allowed to take more than 15 EC for electives.

If you take more than 15 EC electives, the courses with the highest grades will be included in your exam programme. The other courses will be registered as ‘additional courses’ in your Study Progress Report.

Students who participate in an exchange programme at a foreign university will likely acquire an equivalent of 30 EC, because an exchange programme will last half a year. The credits can be used as electives.

The preferable semester to take electives is MSc 3 (first semester of second master year). However, it is allowed to take electives in other periods as well.

MBE students have total freedom in choosing their electives; there is no obligatory list to choose from. However, the courses (or projects) must be on Master's level (not Bachelor).Electives can be chosen from:
1. Compulsory courses (or design projects) or electives from other tracks from the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment (Architecture, Urbanism, Landscape Architecture, Building Technology) and MSc Geomatics. Register for courses of the Faculty of Architecture through BIS.For design projects, please check possible entry requirements by checking the study guide or contact the course coordinator (whose name can be found in the study guide).For a full overview of all elective courses from the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment please check the study guide and use tab: Program. Then: Organisation (Architecture and the Built Environment); Education Type (Electives); Education (AR Electives).
2. Courses or projects from other TU Delft Faculties.In particular courses from the Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management and the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences are interesting. This applies in particular for courses from MSc Construction Management & Engineering. More information can be found here. However, from the CME program Legal & Governance (AR8003) course cannot be chosen by MBE students because of content overlap.Register for these courses by enrolling through Brightspace. (other faculties do not use BIS).
3. Courses form other universities in the Netherlands.You may choose a course from another university if the course fits your graduation topic or interests. For example, you may want to specialise in for example finance at another university.Register for these courses by contacting the course coordinator of the other university. Sometimes, universities do not accept students from other universities.
4. Courses from universities abroad.This may be in the framework of an exchange or unrelated to an exchange.More information can be found here. Contact our International Office for registration: internationaloffice-bk@tudelft.nl. In the framework of an exchange, you do not need to pay a fee to the receiving university. Taking a course without an exchange, will likely require you to pay a fee to the receiving university.

MBE itself offers the following electives:

ARFW1501    Entrepreneurship in the Built Environment (Q4)
ARFW1502    Peri-Urban Transformations: Analysis, Development, Design (Q4)
AR0117 Didactic coaching skills (Q1)
AR0179 Value Capturing (Q2)
AR0185 Research Methods 3 (Q2)
AR0835 Social Sustainability in Human Habitats (Q1)

For these courses, register through BIS.
Internships do not lead to credits (EC’s)
The BOSS site (see ‘Education’) holds comments and experiences from students who took electives from Architecture & Built Environment, other TU Delft faculties, other universities in the Netherland and abroad. This site also shows which electives are often taken by MBE students. This may be valuable information for you.
For inclusion in your Study Progress Report, you need to proof that you completed your electives. Forms need to be handed over to the Board of Examiners for this reason:
- For courses obtained at TU Delft, use form Master Electives list.
- For courses obtained at another university in the Netherlands than TU Delft, use the form Certificate of incorporation.
- For courses obtained at a foreign university (for example in case of an exchange) use form Academic Achievements Abroad. It is advisable in case of courses at foreign universities to ask permission to the Board of
  Examiners in advance. This is certainly advisable for countries where there is no bachelor/master structure.

MBE offers a number of themes for students to choose from. Each theme will be introduced to students so you can get to know them. The themes are published before the start of the Graduation Lab. Each student chooses a theme during the first week. After that you will suggest a specific research question that falls within the theme. You discuss your research question with the theme coordinator. The start of the Graduation Lab runs parallel with course Research Methods 2. In Research Methods 2 you will make a choice for a method that is congruent with the research question of your graduation thesis.
For the first quarter you will have regular meetings with other students within the theme. After that, you will individually work on your graduation thesis. Most student do a graduate internship with a company, governmental organisation or ngo. The internship is in the last semester.
In the Graduation Manual Master of Science Architecture, Urbanism & Building Sciences important information about the setup of the graduation process and the official regulations that apply to the graduation phase are described.