City & Regional Planning

Optional Courses

Students on the MSc in City & Regional Planning are required to take the following 20 credits of planning courses:

• Spatial Planning Strategies seeks to enable and encourage students to generate visionary and imaginative responses to spatial planning challenges, which are realistic and derive from substantial investigation and analysis of relevant data and other evidence.
• Designing Places provides students with an appreciation of the importance and process of design in creating high quality places and enhancing the public realm and to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative design approaches in achieving this.

Design Policy and Appreciation. Students on this specialism must take Urban Design Policy & Practice. This 10 credit course provides an in-depth appreciation and knowledge of contemporary debates in urban design policy, in design control/regulation, and the role and salience of design within contemporary development control/management. They are also required to take either Real Estate Development or an approved design course offered in Urban Design by the Department of Architecture, University of Strathclyde. Students are expected to develop a design related topic for their dissertation.

Planning for Housing Markets.  Students on this specialism take Sustainable Housing Development which is a 20 credits course that evaluates what is meant by sustainable housing development and explores the process by which it is most likely to be delivered. The course therefore seeks to integrate consideration of a range of housing design, development and management issues, with an equal emphasis given to private and social housing.  Students are expected to develop a housing related topic for their dissertation.

Economic Development.  Students on this specialism take Economic Development & Employment. This course explores the different ways of increasing economic development at the regional and local levels, including their rationale and practical application. It examines some of the tensions and trade-offs involved, including how best to enhance city and regional competitiveness; increase productivity and the employment rate, and strike the right balance between inward investment and endogenous growth.  This is a 20 credits course and students are expected to develop an economic development topic for their dissertation.