This module provides students with an opportunity to explore and reflect upon some of the fundamental questions about the nature, purpose and instruments of planning. Students will examine the relationship between planning theory and planning practice and critically assess the role that theory can play in helping planners to better understand the challenges, outcomes and effects of planning as an activity. The module is designed to promote the qualities of a reflective planning practitioner who can engage with sometimes complex conceptual ideas as a way of developing more detailed insights into what goes on in planning practice. A key aim of the module is to encourage students to see planning through multiple and sometimes competing perspectives, as well as to bridge the worlds of planning theory and planning practice.

1. Set out and evaluate major approaches in planning theory to questions about the ways in which cities work and what being a professional involves in relation to nature, purpose and methods of spatial planning
2. Use concepts and approaches from planning theory to analyse debates and innovation in contemporary spatial planning practice
3. Critically discuss some key texts and competing approaches to understanding urban planning
4. Undertake independent reading in relation to urban planning
5. Reflect on their own professional development and learning in a structured way

The module will be delivered through lectures and seminars, in-person and on campus unless mitigating circumstances arise. Seminars will enable small group discussion about key issues relevant to the module. Students are expected to engage with additional module content on Learning Central e.g. readings or other material, to prepare for lectures and seminars, and to supplement and deepen taught components.

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• Critical engagement with the related material and deep reading of academic texts
• Writing for academic audiences

A blend of coursework and portfolio assessment

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment takes place throughout the module.  There are learning checks in every lecture and the workshops which support the assessments provide an opportunity for peer to peer and tutor feedback.

THE OPPORTUNITY FOR REASSESSMENT IN THIS MODULE:

Re-assessment

Students are permitted to be reassessed in a module which they have failed, in line with University regulations. https://intranet.cardiff.ac.uk/staff/teaching-and-supporting-students/teaching-support/academic-regulations. You will only be reassessed on the components of the module in which you have failed. The format of the reassessment will be the same as the original assessment and will take place in the Summer re-sit period.

The scope of this module extends beyond models of planning; but these models can provide starting points for thinking about many topics. A key aim is to introduce a range of theories and ideas related to urban planning to provide different ways of understanding:

• The meanings of certain key ideas that act as guides for planners
• The meanings of certain objectives that planning is often asked to have
• The way questions of value impinge on planning profession and processes
• What knowledge, skills and attributes do planners have, and should they have?
• More generally, the importance of being a reflective practitioner and think critically about how cities work.