MPlan Planning

This course has normally included an overseas field trip in year 4, which is an optional part of the course. Please note there is a student contribution towards the cost of the trip depending on the location.

We are committed to attracting and supporting the very best students from all backgrounds to study this course.  

You could be eligible for cash bursaries of up to £2,500 to support your studies. 

Find out about our funding opportunities

• Introduction to the course:

• Workshops 1, 2 &3: Planning with communities for the introduction and improvement of basic services and infrastructure

• Workshop 4: Planning with households for housing improvements in informal settlements

• Workshop 5: Asset Planning for climate change adaptation and disaster risk management

• Presentation sessions 

To take PLAN40972 Best Practice Case Studies in Urban Development Planning, students must first have taken the PLAN40771 Urban Development Planning in Cities of the South: an international perspective, course unit

• Examine urban planning approaches and practices which enable local governments, NGOs, financial institutions and civil society organizations to confront the increasing levels of poverty and inequality, and disaster risk associated with climate change in some cities in the global South
• Explore the extent to which ex-ante and ex-post  assessments of public interventions are able to address urban residential segregation and inequalities, and the ways in which poverty maps drawn from secondary data (e.g. national census or national household surveys) are employed as planning tools to those ends.
• Provide knowledge and practical skills for establishing financially inclusive systems for housing improvements and the introduction of infrastructure and basic services in small and medium size cities.
• Provide practical guidance on mainstreaming climate change asset adaptation into different planning and programmatic interventions and institutional frameworks, in order to build long-term resilience in cities affected by severe and extreme weather.
   

Learning and teaching materials for this course unit are provided on the VLE. This supports development of digital skills. In addition, the reading list is made available through the Reading List Online. Part of the research for both assignments is conducted through the use of online resources.

Be able to reflect critically on experiences of urban development planning, drawing on case studies to assess best practice with regard to poverty reduction and the creation of more inclusive and equitable cities;

Be able to apply key concepts and skills learned from best practice case studies

Engage in team work, negotiate and make decisions drawing on the experience of the workshops

Have learned to engage in project work both independently and in collaboration with peers

Group presentation (15 minutes) 30%

Individual final essay (2,500 words) 70%)

Written and verbal feedback will be given to individuals for written assignment as well as group presentation.

Before group presentation and final essay there will be group and individual tutorials in which general feedback will be provided. 

 

• Blair, H. (2000) ‘Participation and accountability at the periphery: democratic local governance in six countries’, World Development, 28(1), 21-39.
• Hamdi, N. (2004) Small change: About the art of practice and the limits of planning in cities. Earthscan: London.
• Hamdi, N. and R. Goethert (1996) Action planning for cities: a guide to community practice, Wiley, Chichester.
• Kaza, N. (2006) ‘Tyranny of the Median and Costly Consent: A Reflection on the Justification for Participatory Planning Processes’. Planning Theory 5(3) 255-270.
• Lombard M (2012) ‘Using auto-photography to understand place: reflections from research in urban informal settlements in Mexico’, Area, DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4762.2012.01115.x.
• Stein, A. (2010) Urban Poverty, social exclusion and social housing finance: the case of PRODEL in Nicaragua, Thesis No. 7, HDM, Lund University, Lund.
• Stein, A. and Moser, C.(2014) ‘Asset planning for climate change adaptation: lessons from Cartagena, Colombia’, Environment and Urbanization, 26 (1): 166-183.