Urban and Environmental Planning BA (Hons)

Modules

Modules are assessed by coursework, projects, presentations, essays and exams. Methods of assessment for course overall: 85% coursework

• Planning history and principles
  You'll be introduced to the UK planning combining a historical approach with a critical consideration of the key features of the planning system as it emerged and developed after the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. You'll also examine changing planning principles and theories that have informed the development of the current planning system and planning practice.
• Planning for sustainability (includes field trip to Cornwall)
  A module which examines the challenges faced when spatial planning policies seek to achieve sustainable forms of development. A residential field study visit is integral to the module and provides the opportunity to meet with professionals engaged in planning practice.
• Law and development management
• Town planning as an art
  On this module you'll be introduced to the artistic and creative aspects of 'spatial planning' that are at the heart of the current belief that 'good planning and good design' are inseparable. You'll carry out detailed studies of places, their character and what makes a place unique and the way that this is created and managed.
• Society, space and planning
  One of the central aims of planning is the making of place and mediation of space. This module examines what this involves. You'll be introduced to the structures, networks and relationships that underpin contemporary society, and how these are reflected and mediated geographically.
• Geographical information systems
  Geographical Information Systems (GIS) involve a range of techniques for the collection, manipulation, storage, analysis, and display of spatial information. The presentation and communication of planning and environmental information through cartographic and other means (such as the Internet) are important skills for planners, professionals and researchers.
  In addition to providing you with basic GIS skills, the module will in due course enable you to employ GIS in the course of their research projects within the remainder of the course.

• Strategies, visions and design
  By studying on this module you'll learn how to relate the proposal for a master plan of a specific area to the broader local issues, putting into practice the notion of survey-analysis-plan. The module is delivered in two parts. The first part deals with the analysis of a broad area and the development of a 'strategic spatial option'. The second part is concerned with the development of the strategic option into a 'vision' and a more detailed 'design proposal' for a smaller area.
• Planning, transport and mobility
  On this module you'll focus on the importance of modes of transport for patterns of land-use and the construction of a sustainable future. You'll also examine how issues of power and equality underpin mobility: who can move, how and in what ways.
• Regeneration and local planning (includes field trip to Manchester)
  You'll explore regeneration issues from the point of view of the local scale. Local planning is a crucial element in the planning system, for both protecting the environment and stimulating development and economic activity. A vision for local areas is as vital now as it was when local plans first emerged in the 1960s and People will always need housing, schools, shops, places of work, leisure and worship. These vital components of everyday life will be the focus of the Module, which also includes a one week residential field study visit.
• Development process and finance
  You'll examine the process of development, from inception of a scheme to construction and into use. You'll also explore the economic rationale for development, financial appraisal of development projects, betterment and the mechanisms for providing community benefits.
• Policy evaluation and research
  On this module you'll engage with the nature of policy development from the pre-policy stage to evaluation. The module emphasises an appreciation of processes and people that form policy and you'll be given an overview of the research process as applied to policy development. This module is taught over the first and second semesters and will ensure that you understand the interaction between policy, research, strategy, implementation and evaluation, in relation to housing.The research practice element of the module provides you a number of key skills in research practice, related to the skills that will be required for the dissertation in your final year. You'll also receive lectures from a number of guest speakers from relevant research organisations and professional bodies.
• Environmental management and climate change
  You'll be introduced to the background of current environmental issues, including climate change, and will be provided with basic subject knowledge of contemporary environmental problems and resource issues. You'll explore different environmental policy and management regimes operate in an international, European, national and local context. You'll also be introduced to environmental planning and to related policy issues and to the different perspectives on sustainability.

• Dissertation (double module: 40 credits)
  On this module you'll engage with a substantial piece of research and writing which is self-initiated and supported by a specified academic supervisor. This is a double-weighted module that runs over two semesters and is an intensive piece of student-devised learning which normally includes empirical research. You'll choose your own research topic, which must be in the field of your chosen specialism. You can expect this to be a most rewarding experience and the academic high-point of your degree.
• Planning specialism project
  This module provides you with an introduction to your chosen specialist area of planning: urban regeneration, urban design or environmental planning. You'll gain both a theoretical and practical knowledge of your chosen specialist area, which will allow a greater depth of study at Level 7 within the specialisms.
• Strategic spatial planning
  On this module you'll explore spatial planning at the strategic level. In practice this can refer to planning activities at the regional, national and international levels. The module also analyses the responses to the problems of economic, social, territorial disparities by examining contemporary processes and mechanisms of governance, government, policy and planning. The focus will be on the strategic spatial planning agenda at both the UK level and in the wider European context.
• Cities, representations and planning
  You'll explore the ways that cities have been conceptualised and represented across a range of written and visual media through history. You'll focus on the implications of such representations for planning theory and practice.
• Planning law and policy
  On this module you'll examine in depth with the legal framework for planning control and development of land in England and Wales.