Geography and Planning (with Foundation Year) - BA(Hons)

The course provides a blend between the subjects of Geography and Planning.

Year 0 (Foundation Year)

• Environment and Sustainability
• Foundation Project
• Society, Economy and Governance
• Development and Place
• Data Analysis and Design

You will study the Foundation Year alongside student from our other Geography, Environmental Management and Planning courses.

The normal expectation is that you must pass all Year 0 modules before progressing to Year 1.

Year one

Explore some of the issues and agendas that geographers and planners are embracing. You will also be introduced to some of the key theories and ideas that are helping us to respond to the challenges identified, and the key skills and competencies that are being demonstrated by practising geographers and planners. Modules will get you to think about:

• The nature of globalisation and its wide-ranging effects
• The social and cultural factors affecting society today
• The health and sustainability challenges that are inherent across the world and the type of interventions that can be pursued to promote a greener future
• The nature of communities, both in terms of their composition and how they might be positively engaged in planning
• The ingredients for effective academic study and the skills that need to be used for collecting, analysing and communicating data.

Year two

Begin to understand the role for planning in helping to address the type of challenges identified through year one. Modules explore:

• The case for effective planning and the outcomes that can be secured through effective plan making and site planning
• The nature of the development process
• The changing nature of place, such as that arising from rural depopulation and urban regeneration
• How ecology, and local biodiversity, can be enhanced and positively managed
• Trends in migration, and the impacts that can arise in response
• Tourism, including the interactions that exist between the tourists, the environment and the resident population
• The pressures associated with the sustainable management of the world's global resources
• The skills, competencies and debates that underpin effective research

Final year

Year three provides further opportunity to individualise your study. Modules can help you to explore:

• The processes through which a project can be assessed for its environmental impact
• The nature of good design and the type of ingredients that are needed for successful place making
• The challenges arising from international urbanisation and the planning and growth of global cities
• The complexity in managing national parks and other sensitive environments
• The wide-ranging debates concerning the need and delivery of renewable energy
• Sustainable water management
• International tourism and its role in promoting local development
• You will also be required to undertake an individual research project.

The University continually enhances our offer by responding to feedback from our students and other stakeholders, ensuring the curriculum is kept up to date and our graduates are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need for the real world. This may result in changes to the course. If changes to your course are approved we will inform you.

Our diverse team of staff achieves consistently high scores on the National Student Survey and provides a friendly, enabling environment for learning. Staff regularly attend conferences and produce articles for publication. Many are involved with professional and subject-based networks through which research and policy agendas are shaped.

Our focus on active learning means you will encounter a wide range of innovative classroom and field based learning involving lectures, tutorials, workshops, seminars, and e-learning. You can develop your creativity and problem solving skills throughout the course, working in our studios on exciting and contemporary project briefs. Some of these will involve you working with real-life problems, communities or leading practitioners, often in multidisciplinary contexts.

Through our Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) scheme, students receive mentoring and support from students in later years of our courses to enhance the learning experience across our courses.

Find out more about our department's approach to learning and teaching.

For more details see our full glossary of learning and teaching terms.

After successfully completing three years of full-time study, you will graduate with a BA(Hons) in Geography and Planning. To satisfy the educational requirements of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) for becoming a Corporate and Chartered Planner, further study and a period of work experience is required. Additional study can be done in a variety of ways, with a number of options available at UWE Bristol.

Geography and Planning students who are keen to extend their studies in planning can transfer into year two of BSc Urban Planning and work towards a degree that is partially accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute. Students may also be eligible for a transfer into Urban Planning depending on the options chosen in years two and three.

You will be assessed through a combination of coursework and examinations. The examinations are held in either January or May and include written exams, in-class tests, or assessed presentations. Coursework is varied and involves writing essays or reports, undertaking surveys or design work, or producing team based projects. You are actively encouraged to do formative work to prepare for assessments. This will not count towards your final marks but feedback should help you enhance your final mark. Support is available for any students who need it.

For more details see our full glossary of assessment terms.