Course Catalogue

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The course aims to introduce students to the concepts and theories of planning and how it is practiced in different regions of the world; it enables students to benefit from planning knowledge and practice in western industrialised countries such as the UK and to generate visionary and imaginative responses to spatial planning challenges in fast urbanising countries like China.

9x3 hour sessions and 3x2 hour sessions

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Assessment

This course will be formally assessed by means of course work in the form of an essay OR a project of 4,000 - 5,000 words in length.

The course aims to introduce students to the historic and contemporary concepts and theories of planning and how it is practiced in different parts of the world under different types of economic and political systems. It enables students to access and read planning text and other materials produced under market economic systems and to benefit from the rich planning knowledge and practice in western industrialised countries such as the UK. It trains students to generate visionary and imaginative responses to spatial planning challenges in the fast urbanising regions like China, which are realistic and derive from substantial investigation and analysis of relevant data and other evidence.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Engage with planning theories (such as master plan approach, systematic planning, neo-liberalism and planning, and collaborative planning) and apply them to different cultural, social, economic, historical and political contexts.

2. Evaluate the case for and against planning and particular forms of planning.

3. Assess planning practice in various planning systems and cultures in the world in relation to differences in the level of economic development, history and political systems.

4. Identify key themes which recur at international, national and local levels in planning policy and practice.

5. Critically appreciate the development of planning ideas and the current practice of land use planning in the UK;

6. Prepare coherent and integrated strategies, plans or programmes that take account of relevant institutional frameworks and combine creative direction for the future with credible means of implementation;

7. Acknowledge that planning and development decisions have differing impacts on different people, and develop the capacity to identify and explain these impacts so that they can be properly taken into account in planning decision-making.

8. Incorporate public/community participation, empowerment and civic engagement in plan making and implementation.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.