MSc Planning

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2027, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MSc (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £13,200
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £28,100
• MSc (part-time)
  UK students (per annum): £6,600
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £14,100

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

An overseas field visit is an optional part of the course.

Please note there is a student contribution towards the cost of the trip depending on the location.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

Learn more about - student finance options for UK students.

Learn more about - fees and finance for international students.

Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

This course unit provides an introduction to some of the most important debates in contemporary urban theory, planning theory and practice. It does not, and could not, attempt to cover all of planning theory and urban theory. Rather, it looks at the intersection of the two. The particular ‘take’ of this course unit involves exploring evolving issues in these two literatures around ‘the good city’ and ‘the good planner.’ The exploration of planning theory provides students the opportunity to re-evaluate the fundamental basis of planning activity and enables them to consider the role that planning should play in democratic society, which helps students become reflective practitioners in their future careers and rounded scholars.

The unit aims to:

Introduce students to the development of different, and often competing, modes of planning thought.

Enable students to identify and analyse the relationship between urban theory, planning theory and planning practice, for use in their future careers.

Equip students with the ability to critique the main functions of planning intervention.

Raise students’ awareness of the impact of ethics and values upon planning thought and practice, in relation to their future careers.
 

By the end of the course students will have developed:

1. Critical awareness of the broader social and environmental context to planning activity.
2. An appreciation of the dominant themes in planning theory and urban theory.
3. Awareness of the nature of the theory-practice gap.
4. Understanding of the impact of differing social and political agendas upon the direction of urban planning.
5. Have established an appropriate framework for reflective practice
    

For post-graduate students, the course will have at its heart a series of weekly 2-hour lecture slots, supported by five seminar classes, two assessment support drop-in hours and one essay workshop. You are welcome to email and to come and discuss issues with course unit director and by arrangement with other module teaching staff. 
 

Explain the main themes in planning theory and urban theory
Evaluate the impact of professional ethics and values upon planning thought and practice

Interpret the nature of the theory-practice gap in planning 
Critically analyse the impact of differing social and political agendas upon the direction of urban planning

Synthesise and critically evaluate arguments from academic literature in urban theory and planning theory
Apply appropriate theoretical ideas and debates to analyse planning practice and activity

Develop an appropriate framework for reflective practice
Compose analytical and reflective writing in relation to urban theory, planning theory and planning practice

Reflection on Seminar discussion (1000 words) 35% weighting

Essay (1500 words) 65% weighting

Feedback given as per Faculty’s timeframe. 

Allmendinger, P. (2017) Planning theory (3rd edition). Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Fainstein, S.S. and DeFilippis, J. (eds.) (2015) Readings in Planning Theory (4th edition). Chichester: Wiley.

Fainstein, S.S. and Campbell S. (eds.) (2011) Readings in Urban Theory (3rd edition). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

Haughton, G. and White, I. (2019) Why Plan?: Theory for Practitioners. London: Lund Humphries.

Healey, P. (1997) Collaborative Planning: Shaping Places in Fragmented Spaces. Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Lawhon, M. (2020) Making Urban Theory: Learning and Unlearning through Southern Cities. London: Routledge.

McCann, E. and Ward, K. (eds.) (2011) Mobile Urbanism: City Policymaking in the Global Age. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.

Pojani, D. (ed.) (2022) Alternative Planning History and Theory. London: Routledge.

Sandercock, L. (1998) Towards Cosmopolis: Planning for Multicultural Cities. Chichester: Wiley.