The planning project is centred on a site which is sufficiently large and complex to raise questions of ownership, infrastructure, urban transport, environmental impact, social impact, heritage, regional implications, land use, built form, plan preparation, and development control. The four subjects which make up the project are intended to give students an experiential education in the process of planning, enabling concepts and information from knowledge areas to be integrated at each stage. Students work in groups of between four and eight, emulating planning practice where knowledge and ideas are put into practice, where experience is gained in the techniques and methods of planning, and where the skills of spatial analysis, problem-solving, design, organisation and communication are enhanced.
This first planning project subject requires the analysis of the chosen site, through the documentation of its physical characteristics and its social and environmental context. Students are required to perceive, identify, record, analyse and manipulate patterns and relationships. In addition, they provide a preliminary definition of planning problems, design a project brief and prepare consultancy contracts.
Autumn semester, City campus