The School of Urban Design was formed in February 2000 by the merger of architecture, urban planning, art design, drawing center and other professional and teaching units of Wuhan University, Wuhan University of Water Conservancy and Electric Power and Wuhan University of Surveying and Mapping Technology. In 2003, the school adjusted the major of industrial design from other departments to the School of Urban Design, forming a complete design system in which planning design, architectural design, industrial design and artistic design complement each other. Relying on the multi-disciplinary foundation of literature, history, philosophy, economics, law, management, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine and teaching, the college has gradually formed the characteristics of humanization, digitalization, internationalization and creative industrialization with the help of its profound academic atmosphere and humanistic heritage.

The college now has five research and teaching units, including urban and rural planning department, architecture department, design department, graphics and digital technology department, art and design experiment center, and other research and teaching auxiliary units, such as party and government office, teaching management office, expansion school office and library.