Course description
Special features
You can switch to another programme in Planning and Landscape at the end of your first year if you wish.
You can select a free choice option from across the entire University in your second year (e.g. a language).
Study abroad option for all or part of the second year. Planning and Landscape has links with universities in other parts of the world. This study can either be in Europe (with one of our partner Erasmus/Socrates institutions), the United States, South East Asia or Australia.
Course content for year 1
The first year gives a broad introduction to the background and problems of dealing with cities and regions and also the environment from the point of view of planning and management. You are introduced to some of the professional environmental disciplines that are concerned with managing cities and their regions, as well as taking studies in areas like sociology and economics that have major impacts on city and regional development over time. Your core course for first year looks at the processes and evolution over time of cities and regions in Britain.
All Planning and Landscape undergraduates share the first year and on completion students can switch programmes, if they wish, to any of the possible degree programmes that can be awarded after three or four years of study. Transfer from a Bachelor to a Master programme depends on the level of performance in the Year, but the vast majority of our students achieve the required level for such a transfer.
Course content for year 2
In the second year you take a more "management and control" approach to understanding how cities and their regions change, including an in-depth look at town planning controls and the planning and management of rural environments. You get to apply the knowledge you gain in practical projects and field studies, including looking at settlement planning and undertaking a week's rural studies, usually in a nearby National Park. You also have the chance to select an optional course unit from a range of units offered elsewhere in the university, or even to consider study abroad, for a semester, under our various inter-university student exchange schemes.
Course content for year 3
In the third year, you deal with the major problems of restructuring cities and regions, as well as writing a 12,000 word dissertation on a topic of your choice. This allows you to develop a specialism within the field of city and regional development, which you might wish to use as a basis for further academic or professional studies, or to further your career prospects in a particular field. To aid you in making these choices you also take a course in professional and career development during your final year. You may choose to continue on to a fourth year of study and gain an undergraduate masters in Town and Country Planning (MTCP) and professional qualification and accreditation with the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
Career opportunities
Students graduating from within Planning and Landscape are popular with a wide range of employers.
BA graduates find that a degree from Planning and Landscape makes them eminently employable, offering skills from a discipline requiring them to apply their knowledge to solve problems and develop opportunities, now and in the future.
In recent years a growing numbers of graduates have found jobs also in other public services or in business, where an ability to analyse and propose policies and implement strategies is vital and where a wide variety of generic management and communication skills is appreciated. The transferable skills you develop in strategic thinking, teamwork, creativity and communication are exactly what most employers are seeking in almost any area in which you may subsequently decide to develop your career.
Course fees: Tuition fees for Home/EU students commencing their studies in 2009 will be approximately £3250 per year. These fees will be subject to change in the light of government announcements to all universities.
