Town and country planning
By Zoe Flood
Published: 15 August 2004
What do you come out with? BSc or a BA, depending upon the University.
Why do it? To understand about people and space, or because you are into the human side of geography, or because you want to be a planner.
What's it about? How land is used and managed in cities, towns and countryside. It's not just tower blocks and motorway junctions, but communities and pedestrians. There's always a problem, such as congestion, or deciding the best locations for shops, industry or leisure by balancing competing interests. Watchwords are environment, sustainable development, negotiation, and change. Practical and project work is vital. Modules include the history of towns and their development, evolution of regulation, regeneration, the property market, urban design and restoration. The "country" bit involves nature and conservation management; leisure, tourism and rural services; rural policy and environmental land management. Planning extends to transport systems, marine developments, and specific environmental and architectural considerations.
How long is a degree? Three years; four in Scotland.
What are the students like? Tend to be imaginative and hard-working, and interested in creating agreeable environments. Often more men than women.
How is it packaged? Most courses are modular, with a mix of exams and coursework/project assessment. Twenty-two courses in the UK are accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute, meaning that students can go on to apply for membership of the Institute after a year of practical experience.
How cool is it? Not very at the moment, but will become more so as our impact on the space we live in increases more and more.
What A-levels do you need? Geography is useful, but not necessary, unless you are doing a joint honours degree.
What grades? Standard offers range from BBC at Newcastle to 230 points at Sheffield Hallam to180 points at Central England.
Will you be interviewed? Generally not, although non-standard entrants will be interviewed.
Will it keep you off the dole? Jobs in private companies and consultancies, plus environmental management, wildlife trusts, rural community councils and the town hall.
What do students say? Brian Dore, a third year student of BA (Hons) Town and Country Planning student at UCE. "I wanted to re-train and I was looking for a vocational and relevant degree. I had always been interested in buildings and cities, their development and improvement, and I decided that the town and country planning degree at UCE would be ideal."
Jordan Butler, a recent graduate from Urban Planning at Sheffield. "The Urban Studies and Planning course gave me a thorough understanding of the planning process, and the statutory framework and political climate in which the system operates. It introduced me to the complexities of urban regeneration and helped me understand the often conflicting motivations of the various actors involved in the process. The modular structure of the course contains optional units which gave me the flexibility to develop my own particular interests."
Where's best for teaching? Greenwich and Oxford Brookes scored 24 out of 24; Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield and West of England were awarded 23, while Queen's Belfast, Reading, Salford, Sheffield Hallam and South Bank came in with 22. Cardiff was rated excellent.
Where's best for research? Tip-top 5* awarded to Cardiff and Leeds; Aberdeen, Cambridge, Glasgow, Newcastle, Reading and Sheffield got a 5; Edinburgh College of Art, Gloucestershire, Liverpool, Manchester, Oxford Brookes, Sheffield Hallam and South Bank got a 4.
Where's the cutting edge? Urban regeneration issues, local planning, social inclusion and exclusion, spatial development and renewable energy.
Who are the stars? Patsy Healy at Newcastle on planning theory and collaborative negotiating (although she now only consults postgraduate); Ted Kitchen at Sheffield focuses on how to improve the contribution that planning makes to regeneration. Also at Sheffield, Paula Meth explores the links between levels of domestic violence and civil violence by focusing on women's perceptions of fear in violent contexts.
Added value: Newcastle has extensive links with regional and national government and is the only school that finds placements on behalf of the students.
