<p>Curriculum scholarship emerges as one of the key yet underexplored areas, considering epistemological and institutional construction of the urban design field. This article develops a transferable methodology as an investigative lens and applies this to map the evolution of urban design curricula in the higher education system of Türkiye. Combining diachronic and synchronic analysis, it traces curricular models and shifts across four periods, highlighting how programs negotiated the pedagogy and the identity of urban design. Qualitatively, it considers the role of international higher education models, national policies, and institutional historiographies; quantitatively, it maps curricular structures, content, orientations and areas of specialization. Findings highlight multiple pathways in shaping educational programs prior to the increasing structuration of curricula to balance disciplinary theory and methods with other specialization domains while centralizing design studio-based pedagogy. The study demonstrates that an evolutionary perspective is needed to explore the transformation in urban design education more broadly.</p>