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Building and using evidence from primary and secondary sources is crucial to strategic planning, effective decision making, assessment, and monitoring and evaluation. Planners are required to confidently utilise data, engage in research and use resulting information across a breadth of tasks and activities tied to their role. This course builds … For more content click the Read More button below.Building and using evidence from primary and secondary sources is crucial to strategic planning, effective decision making, assessment, and monitoring and evaluation. Planners are required to confidently utilise data, engage in research and use resulting information across a breadth of tasks and activities tied to their role. This course builds upon the introduction to planning techniques and analysis in PLAN1006 and PLAN2002 to develop a further strengthening of understanding and application of those skills through the lens of live projects, issues and tasks carried out during their Practice Year. Students are expected to build up a portfolio of practice-based projects that demonstrates a deepening of skills and techniques and critical engagement with the evidence-making process reflective of their specific placement contexts. Students will develop a variety of enhanced skills, for example in census or housing market analysis, using 'smart' data, preparing and administering surveys, engaging in qualitative techniques, or manipulating spatial datasets through GIS, city analytics and visualisation. The diversity of students' practice-based learning will be brought together and structured around a series of intensive class periods across the year.Read More

PLAN2005 Planning Law and Administration introduces students to the legal system and environmental planning law with particular reference to the Australian experience. The course targets three main foci: planning law, planning administration and land/real property. Planning law and Administration considers historical and theoretical issues in law and jurisprudence. This includes … For more content click the Read More button below.PLAN2005 Planning Law and Administration introduces students to the legal system and environmental planning law with particular reference to the Australian experience. The course targets three main foci: planning law, planning administration and land/real property. Planning law and Administration considers historical and theoretical issues in law and jurisprudence. This includes engagement with Indigenous land rights, native title and association with land and water management. The administrative context within which planning operates as a function of government is addressed, principally the role and function of statutory bodies in the planning and environment area. The property dimension covers fundamental issues of property rights, property law, methods of valuation, and compensation and betterment.Read More

Equitable Cities examines contemporary issues facing planners working in a diverse and complex society. Students engage with the broader social, economic and cultural shifts which are continually reshaping the neoliberal city. Students consider questions of spatial disadvantage, social exclusion, ‘spatial justice’ and equity, and ‘rights to the city’. Change in … For more content click the Read More button below.Equitable Cities examines contemporary issues facing planners working in a diverse and complex society. Students engage with the broader social, economic and cultural shifts which are continually reshaping the neoliberal city. Students consider questions of spatial disadvantage, social exclusion, ‘spatial justice’ and equity, and ‘rights to the city’. Change in the built environment invariably impacts on disadvantaged and disenfranchised groups disproportionately, where for example redevelopment and gentrification may be accompanied by quickly changing community profiles, rising housing costs, unhealthy environments and potential displacement. As planners we must steward the future direction of our cities and communities in ways which value and foster diversity. Planners must ensure that the interests and needs of all groups, including ethnic communities, children, the aged, women, people with disabilities, people of all sexual preferences, Indigenous and homeless people are heard. Planners are also increasingly engaged with the creation of healthy built environments, fostering wellbeing alongside health professionals in decisions taken which affect the built environment's ability to be supportive of healthy behaviour. The role and capacity of current planning frameworks to achieve more equitable and health supportive outcomes are explored, including the preparation of community strategic plans, the use of social and health impact assessments, as well as more creative inter-disciplinary and bottom-up consultative approaches and working practices.Read More

Urban design as a field of activity is concerned with the four-dimensional form and functioning of the public realm. It is both a process and a product and is often regarded as the integrative force that straddles and connects the more traditional built environment disciplines: urban design aims to reunite … For more content click the Read More button below.Urban design as a field of activity is concerned with the four-dimensional form and functioning of the public realm. It is both a process and a product and is often regarded as the integrative force that straddles and connects the more traditional built environment disciplines: urban design aims to reunite the partnership between planning and design to help improve the quality and sustainability of the built environment. This course provides an introduction to urban design theory and practice. It is designed to equip students with the skills they need to appreciate and critique urban design, and to engage in the design process. Particular skills to be developed include site context analysis, computer-based design and presentation, and the formulation of robust planning and urban design controls.  Read More

This course deals with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and their applications in urban studies, public management, and environment planning contexts. It recognises that major developments have occurred across these areas that are important for careers in government, planning, business, public works and other types of organisations. The course focuses on … For more content click the Read More button below.This course deals with Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and their applications in urban studies, public management, and environment planning contexts. It recognises that major developments have occurred across these areas that are important for careers in government, planning, business, public works and other types of organisations. The course focuses on the principles and concepts of GIS and spatial data analysis to provide students with the conceptual and practical skills and knowledge to utilise relevant technical tools for data analysis, spatial mapping and data visualisation. The course will teach students how to access meta-databases (AURIN) and use open source GIS software. Through the learning of this software students will begin to see the connection between concepts-data-tools-visualisation. Students will develop a suitable level of proficiency in the application of the technology to an array of spatial problems. General topics include a solid understanding of the importance of spatial data and data layers, components and functions of GIS, and of types of spatial data models and databases, their entry, analysis, manipulation and display into a GIS.Read More

Strategic planning is a dynamic, analytical, and interdisciplinary process, and in its academic context is where the practical, applied nature of the discipline is interrogated through a more conceptual, theoretical and critical lens. A major characteristic is the synthesis of diverse information and analysis, alongside community and stakeholder opinion into … For more content click the Read More button below.Strategic planning is a dynamic, analytical, and interdisciplinary process, and in its academic context is where the practical, applied nature of the discipline is interrogated through a more conceptual, theoretical and critical lens. A major characteristic is the synthesis of diverse information and analysis, alongside community and stakeholder opinion into communicable planning documents. This course provides instruction in the theory and practice of strategic planning as an integrative activity and adopts an applied focus in considering a contemporary multifaceted planning issue. The key drivers of change within our cities, for example housing supply and affordability, urban renewal, urban justice, infrastructure and transport, are unpacked, and the tensions that shape how decisions get made - or not - understood through the complex lens of urban governance and how planning - and planners - engaged with those we plan for. As planners we are interested in the inherently spatial dimensions of these urban processes, recognising that collective efforts to influence land use change and behaviours of urban stakeholders take place at different geographical scales, and impact on different groups in different ways. This course focuses on the metropolitan scale, where the conditions requiring strategic planning are arguably most evident.Read More

This course provides an introduction to the processes involved in property development in market economics in the context of government regulatory and approval processes. Students are introduced to the range of different actors and stakeholders involved in urban development of different scales, from multinational high-density residential developers to small and … For more content click the Read More button below.This course provides an introduction to the processes involved in property development in market economics in the context of government regulatory and approval processes. Students are introduced to the range of different actors and stakeholders involved in urban development of different scales, from multinational high-density residential developers to small and medium sized companies operating across different sectors and sub-markets. Topics include the nature and purposes of property development, a brief introduction to real property law, development economics, the regulatory context, and taxation issues. Emphasis is placed on understanding how developers work, how they determine the feasibility of projects and how they engage with the planning system. Students are encouraged to build up an appreciation of the challenges and issues arising from development, government and community perspectives. In exploring feasibility questions, students will develop a hypothetical site and explore feasibility options for its development within relevant planning parameters.   Read More

There are a number of core skills and techniques that shape the planners' task. An appreciation of the range, utility and meaning of research and analytical techniques is a fundamental part of the planner's methodological training. This course provides an introduction to basic techniques of survey design, data collection and … For more content click the Read More button below.There are a number of core skills and techniques that shape the planners' task. An appreciation of the range, utility and meaning of research and analytical techniques is a fundamental part of the planner's methodological training. This course provides an introduction to basic techniques of survey design, data collection and analysis, introductory statistics, which are an integral component of an urban planner’s skill set. Students will learn when to apply particular techniques and how to do so.Read More

Planners are required to interpret, analyse and communicate information across a breadth of different media. We need to understand the fundamental principles and language of design in order to read, interrogate and assess architects' plans and visualisations. We need to be able to distil complex information and communicate our findings, … For more content click the Read More button below.Planners are required to interpret, analyse and communicate information across a breadth of different media. We need to understand the fundamental principles and language of design in order to read, interrogate and assess architects' plans and visualisations. We need to be able to distil complex information and communicate our findings, assessment and recommendations to a wide range of stakeholders, and, crucially, we need to know how to listen, to collaborate and to work in teams. This course provides students with core design and communication skills and competencies that will provide a platform for their studies throughout the degree. Through a series of workshops and classes, students will develop a 'toolkit' encompassing basic graphic representation, interpretation of scale and perspective, and ability to interpret, engage and work with architectural plans and drawing. Students will also develop techniques to improve a range of written and oral communication activities, and tactics for building confidence in their use of those skills. Group work activity leads to a series of multi-media class presentations.Read More

This course provides a foundation of city and regional economics with a range of key economic concepts and models to shape urban land uses, firm locations and housing and labour market systems in cities. The  course encompasses the following main areas: micro/macroeconomic processes that drive urban land use, governance and … For more content click the Read More button below.This course provides a foundation of city and regional economics with a range of key economic concepts and models to shape urban land uses, firm locations and housing and labour market systems in cities. The  course encompasses the following main areas: micro/macroeconomic processes that drive urban land use, governance and planning systems; market failures as the source of urban planning problems; development feasibility and the economic theories of urbanisation, gentrification and globalisation. In particular micro-economic and macro-economic processes underpin urban land-use patterns, property values, activity and transport systems. The processes of economic growth and decline are a perennial consideration of planning at different scales. Therefore the course focuses on development and planning across metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions. Students gain an understanding of how planning objectives are influenced by the aggregate impacts of uneven economic growth processes and economic behaviour. They gain familiarity with the potentialities and limitations of public policy in influencing spatial outcomes through studying economic issues and problems. Practical techniques for analysing spatial structure and development projects are introduced. Instruction is through lectures and tutorials.Read More