Program Overview

Planning and Development

Overview

The Postgraduate Certificate in Planning and Development is designed to provide professional planning skills. It is a flexible course that can be completed full-time in one semester or accumulated more flexibly over up to two years. The course focuses on key aspects of planning theory, policy, and practice, and is designed to allow students to develop knowledge on planning in a flexible manner.

Course Structure

The course is structured to provide students with a comprehensive grasp of the key issues underpinning planning and development. It covers topics such as planning theory and practice, planning law and governance, community planning and regeneration, and property development.

Modules

• GIS and Spatial Analysis: This module examines the role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in planning practice and research. It covers key concepts in GIS, spatial literacy, data sources, and the role of mapping and maps.
• Community Planning and Regeneration: This module covers regeneration policy and practice, and the housing system and aspects of housing policy. It includes topics such as urban regeneration, community participation, and housing policy.
• Planning and Environmental Governance: This module explores the institutions, policies, and legal framework of land use regulation, with a specific emphasis on Northern Ireland.
• Planning Law and Practice: This module provides an opportunity to explore the legal arena of planning, including primary and secondary legislation, and the interpretation of the courts.
• Professional Practice Project in Environmental Planning: This module is based on a combination of lectures and project work, and allows students to become fully engaged in preparing local plans.
• Property Development: This module focuses on property development processes in both the private and public sectors, including the economic, social, and political context of property development.
• Planning Skills and Ethics: This module extends over one semester and is structured to provide students with a comprehensive grasp of the key issues underpinning planning skills and ethics.
• Design in the Built Environment: This module covers design theory in the built environment.
• International Planning Studies: This module focuses on awareness of European and wider international spatial planning practices.
• Introduction to Planning Theory and Practice: This module introduces postgraduate students to the key concepts and principles of spatial and environmental planning.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Explain and demonstrate how spatial planning operates within the context of institutional and legal frameworks.
• Generate integrated and well-substantiated responses to spatial planning challenges.
• Demonstrate how efficient resource management helps to deliver effective spatial planning.
• Explain the contribution that planning can make to the built and natural environment and in particular recognize the implications of climate change.
• Evaluate the principles and processes of design for creating high-quality places and enhancing the public realm for the benefit of all in society.
• Demonstrate effective research, analytical, evaluative, and appraisal skills and the ability to reach appropriate evidence-based decisions.
• Recognize the role of communication skills in the planning process and the importance of working in an inter-disciplinary context and be able to demonstrate negotiation, mediation, advocacy, and leadership skills.

Skills

The course develops a range of skills, including:

• Generic skills: written and oral communication, problem-solving, use of IT and library services.
• Professional planning skills: knowledge of the development process, evaluation of development strategies, decision-making in planning, and stakeholder perspectives.
• Client-based/business skills: project management, tendering processes, negotiation of added value and community benefits.

Admission Criteria

• Normally a 2.2 Honours degree or equivalent qualification acceptable to the University in any discipline.
• Applicants who do not meet the above academic requirement but have appropriate acceptable experience will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Tuition Fees

• Northern Ireland (NI): £2,434
• Republic of Ireland (ROI): £2,434
• England, Scotland or Wales (GB): £3,083
• EU Other: £7,166
• International: £7,166

Additional Course Costs

• Students are required to undertake a compulsory field trip to a European city, and are responsible for funding travel, accommodation, and subsistence costs, which should be budgeted for approximately £500.

Career Prospects

Our graduates end up in leading positions in central and local government and as well as in planning consultancies in the private sector. The course is designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge required to pursue a career in planning and development.