Urban Planning - BSc(Hons)

A wide-ranging syllabus

You will be offered a solid grounding in planning, with an effective blend of both theory and practice. The course covers a wide range of subject areas and draws from both UK and international case studies. Assessment through the course is mixed; many of the projects have an applied and real-life feel to them. The modules below are taught collaboratively by staff from within the Departments of Geography and Environmental Management and Architecture and the Built Environment.

Year one - Understanding the Context

You will study the following compulsory modules:

• Healthy Sustainable Communities
• Making of Place
• The Context of Property and Development
• Geographical Skills
• People and Planning

Year two - Delivering Change

You will study the following compulsory modules:

• Future Places
• Development Appraisal and Planning
• Property Development Practice and Law
• Researching the City
• Real Estate Economics

Plus one of the following optional modules:

• Regenerating Cities
• Rural Change and Development

Optional placement year

Students have the option to take a placement year after completing their first two levels of study. As a connection between university study and work, the placement allows the application of academic knowledge to a professional environment.

Final year - The International Year

Non-placement students will study the following compulsory modules:

• Planning Studio 3: Global Cities
• Individual Research Project
• Design and Implementation Project
• Planning Theory
• Achieving Design Quality

Plus one of the following optional modules:

• Managing National Parks
• Renewable Energy

Placement students will study the following compulsory modules:

• Planning Studio 3: Global Cities
• Final Year Project
• Placement
• Design and Implementation Project
• Planning Theory
• Achieving Design Quality

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.

Developing key skills and attributes

You will discover new ways of analysing an area which will help you to appreciate the nature and character of places, together with the challenges and opportunities that are present. This will be invaluable in bringing forward creative and exciting solutions for change. Other key skills we will focus on include creative thinking, project management, negotiation and advocacy, and verbal and written communication. You will be asked to work with GIS and digital mapping and will be provided with on-going support to help you develop professional looking reports, presentations or portfolios. We will also develop your confidence, your ability to lead teams, and create a general enthusiasm towards lifelong learning.

As demonstrated by consistently high scores on the National Student Survey, the department's lecturing staff provide a friendly, enabling environment for learning.

Our teaching and learning strategy emphasises active rather than passive learning. This means that you will encounter a wide range of innovative classroom and in-field based learning contexts involving lectures, tutorials, workshops, seminars, and IT-based learning. A studio spine extends through the course, with the contributing modules providing some exciting and contemporary project briefs that will encourage you to think and be creative. 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, first year students receive mentoring and support from second year students to enhance the learning experience across our courses.

"The planning course at UWE helps students to gain real life skills by providing a chance to engage in assignments that mimic the work we would have to undertake in the professional workplace, which will always be an invaluable skill for students to leave university with." Sarah, BSc(Hons) Urban Planning

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

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

The course is accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) as a spatial planning degree. This is an important qualification in your journey to become a professional chartered planner. To complete the journey, you will need to do one of two things:

• You can opt to take further specialist study. Many will opt to pursue this immediately after their degree while others opt to seek some additional work experience. Options for this specialist study at UWE Bristol include our MSc Planning Major Projects and MSc Transport Planning. The former is characterised by a flexible approach to learning while there is also an opportunity to start this course at one of our European partners in France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. After completing this specialist study, you will need to follow a structured programme of work experience to secure membership to the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
• Or there is an opportunity to achieve chartered membership by progressing into a structured programme of work experience to achieve associate membership, and then full membership of the institute.

Assessment is achieved through a balance of coursework and examinations. Examinations are held in either January or May and include written exams, in-class tests or assessed presentations. Coursework is varied and will involve you writing essays or reports, undertaking surveys or design work, or producing some kind of team based project. You are actively encouraged to do 'formative work' to prepare for these assessments; this does not count towards your final marks but the feedback received should help you enhance your final mark. Support is available for students who need it.

For more details see our full glossary of assessment terms.