Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

As an Urban and Regional Planner, you will need skills to understand, analyse and interpret urban planning issues. You will require the capacity to prepare integrated plans and strategies to solve problems and promote beneficial development. This involves consultation with local governments, communities and other stakeholders. This unit provides you with practical experience in developing and applying integrated local area planning skills.

Aims

The unit aims to impart and develop skills of planning appraisal, analysis and proposal preparation at the urban scale, using real world planning situations and problems.

Objectives

At the conclusion of this unit, you will be able to:

1. Identify and analyse significant urban planning issues;
2. Solve planning problems to achieve societal goals;
3. Synthesize a wide range of social, physical an economic activities to respond to community needs and priorities;
4. Deploy transferable skills of policy and plan preparation for integrated planning;
5. Integrate principles of sustainability in urban planning.

Content

Urban Planning Practice is a problem-solving team project, intended to develop an integrated strategic framework to guide growth and change for the designated urban area.

The project will include the following stages:

(i) Planning Appraisal in the study area to identify key issues and develop preliminary objectives.

(ii) Preparation of detailed Topic Reports on individual themes of significance spanning the activities of governance, housing, employment, natural environment, transport, human services and community organisation. Appraisal of the significance and implications of proposed administrative changes, direct community/stakeholder consultation and critical analysis of relevant literature and publications and web sources will be part of this work, which will be presented at a Futures Workshop, which will link to the final stage by developing an overall vision of future preferences and priorities for the area.

(iii) Development of Planning Proposals including vision, integrated objective framework, and detailed strategies to fulfill the objectives, an indicative land use strategy to manage development; and a 20 year implementation program, to include government, business and community.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Teaching Mode
Hours per Week: 3
Lecture: 1
Tutorial/Prac: 2

This is a practical unit, applying in an action-learning context the methods of problem solving acquired in UDB266, Planning Processes. Teaching, learning and assessment are project-based and conducted in conjunction with and state and local and government departments and community groups, to provide experience in the practicalities of professional and community consultation and its integration into objective formulation, information analysis and plan making.

Note: This unit is concurently taught with its undergraduate equavelant - UDB471 Regional Planning Practice.

Assessment

QUT's Assessment Policy is located at MOPP c/5.1 It can be viewed at Student presentations and class discussions on work in progress will provide opportunities for feedback. Time will be allocated for you to gain guidance on your successive assignments.

Assessment name: Appraisal Report
Description: Study Area Appraisal and Development of Draft Objectives.
The first stage will be an appraisal, focusing on the character, potentialities and problems of the of the study area. This will involve community and stakeholder consultation as well as personal appraisal of metropolitan and urban context, local character, planning history, provisions and change factors. In order to give initial direction to the project and help identify information that will need to be collected and analysed in later stages, draft objectives will also be developed. An appreciation of the project's aims and tasks will form part of the Appraisal.
Relates to objectives: 1. Identify and analyse significant urban planning issues;
3. Synthesize a wide range of social, physical an economic activities to respond to community needs and priorities;
5. Integrate principles of sustainability in urban planning.
Weight: 20%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 4

Assessment name: Topic Report
Description: Topic Reports on themes of importance in the study area.
Investigation of key themes within each topic will be based on research and analysis of issues identified in Stage 1, and include opportunities, constraints and options. Results will be presented at a half day Futures Workshop, at which it is planned to include local community representatives and stakeholders to generate overall preferences for the future development of the study area.
Relates to objectives: 1. Identify and analyse significant urban planning issues;
4. Deploy transferable skills of policy and plan preparation for integrated planning;
5. Integrate principles of sustainability in urban planning
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Group
Due date: Week 8

Assessment name: Professional Plans
Description: Development of integrated local area plans and proposals./
This stage involves preparation and presentation of proposals in both report and display formats, synthesizing information from stages 1 and 2. Teams will refine objectives, develop visions, prepare indicative land use strategies and present implementation plans to guide development for the area over the next 20 years.
Relates to objectives: 2. Solve planning problems to achieve societal goals;
3. Synthesize a wide range of social, physical an economic activities to respond to community needs and priorities;
4. Deploy transferable skills of policy and plan preparation for integrated planning;
5. Integrate principles of sustainability in urban planning.
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Group with Individual Component
Due date: Week 13

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

Recommended Reading List
Brisbane City Council (2006). Brisbane City Centre Master Plan, Brisbane.
Cooke, P., (2002). Knowledge economies, London: Routledge.
Florida, R. (1995) Towards the learning region. Futures, 27(5): 527-536.
Knight, R., (1995). Knowledge-based development, Urban Studies, 32(2), 225-260.
Huggins, R. & Strakova, L., (2012). Knowledge-based economic development in emerging regions, Regional Studies, 46(7), 961-975.
Lever, W., (2002). Correlating the knowledge-base of cities with economic growth, Urban Studies, 39(5/6), 859-870.
Malecki E., (2007). Cities and regions competing in the global economy, Environment and Planning C, 25(1), 638-654.
Metaxiotis, K., Carrillo, J., and Yigitcanlar, T., (Eds.) (2010). Knowledge-based development of cities and societies. Hersey, PA, USA: IGI Global.
Mieg, H., (2012). Sustainability and innovation in urban development, Sustainable Development, 20(1), 251-263.
Queensland Government (2005). Smart Queensland: smart state strategy 2005-2015, Department of Employment and Training, Brisbane.
Queensland Government, (2005). Queensland Transport, Smart Travel Choices for South East Queensland: A Transport Green Paper, Brisbane.
Queensland Government, (2005). Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Smart Queensland: Smart State Strategy 2005-2015, Brisbane.
Queensland Government Department of Infrastructure & Planning, (2010). South East Queensland Infrastructure Plan & Program, Brisbane.
Queensland Government Department of Infrastructure & Planning, (2009). South East Queensland Regional Plan 2009-2031, Brisbane.
van Winden, W., van den Berg, L. & Pol, P., (2007). European cities in the knowledge economy, Urban Studies, 44(3), 525-550.
Yigitcanlar, T., Metaxiotis, K., and Carrillo, J., (Eds.) (2012). Building prosperous knowledge cities. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Yigitcanlar, T., (2011). Redefining knowledge-based urban development, International Journal of Knowledge Based Development, 2(4), 340-356.
Yigitcanlar, T., (2010). Making space and place for the knowledge economy, European Planning Studies, 18(11), 1769-1786.
Yigitcanlar, T., (2009). Planning for knowledge-based development, Journal of Knowledge Management, 13(5), 228-242.
Yigitcanlar, T., O'Connor, K. & Westerman, C., (2008). The making of knowledge cities, Cities, 25(2), 63-72.
Yigitcanlar, T., Velibeyoglu, K. & Martinez-Fernandez, C., (2008). Rising knowledge cities, Journal of Knowledge Management, 12(5), 8-20.
Yigitcanlar, T., Velibeyoglu, K., and Baum, S., (Eds.) (2008). Knowledge-based urban development. Hersey, PA, USA: IGI Global.
Yigitcanlar, T., Velibeyoglu, K., and Baum, S., (Eds.) (2008). Creative urban regions. Hersey, PA, USA: IGI Global.
Yigitcanlar, T., Baum, S. & Horton, S., (2007). Attracting and retaining knowledge workers in knowledge cities, Journal of Knowledge Management, 11(5), 6-17.

Additional Costs
Site visits to the study area will involve you in some travel expenses.

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Risk assessment statement

The unit involves individual and group regional field trips. You must have attended a safety induction session and have a safety induction card. The School provides a Safety Induction Course in the first week of semester, which introduces you to the relevant workplace, health and safety requirements applicable in Queensland.

Health & Safety Inductions
Students are required to complete the following Induction/Certificates:
1. General Safety Induction (Completed On-Line).
2. General Safety Induction (Construction Industry) Card - WHITE CARD (this will facilitate students attending construction worksites).

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 22-Feb-2013