Urban Studies and Planning MPlan(UG)

Core modules:

Information and Communication Skills

The skills needed to be able to find, evaluate, summarise and critically evaluate information are all vital to success in an undergraduate degree programme, and are also key transferable skills. This module provides basic knowledge of a range of methods for information-gathering and forms of communication. The teaching is delivered through a mix of lectures, tutorials and seminars, with students expected to take more responsibility for their own learning as the module progresses. Lectures provide basic knowledge on method for information gathering and forms of communication, whilst seminars, tutorials and a range of exercises are used to develop these skills

10 credits

Contemporary urban challenges

This module will address the range of challenges contained within the Sustainable Development Goals for cities attempting to transition towards sustainable urban development. You will be introduced to sustainability challenges and the planning and urban professional response to these in a range of specific cities. You will then conduct your own research on one of these case study cities to evaluate its response, and the wider lessons to be learned from it about transitions towards sustainable development.

10 credits

Cities, Places and People

The aim of this module is to provide students with an introduction to Sheffield with a particular focus on place, people, the local economy and urban change. You will be introduced to some of the theories, techniques and data  that planners use in their efforts to understand and create better places and the module will develop your skills of analysis for assessing the social, economic and environmental qualities of urban places. Through a series of site visits, students will gain an understanding of several different areas in Sheffield so that they develop a broader appreciation of the city's strengths and some of the contemporary challenges that it faces.

10 credits

The Making of Urban Places

This module will introduce you to cities and urbanisation, from the very first settlements to contemporary metropolises, using examples from across the world. The module focuses on thinking about the role of cities within societies and civilisations throughout history. The first half, on the history of urbanisation and urban settlement, looks at how various forces have shaped cities, and the outcomes of urbanisation for cities and their populations. The second half, on contemporary global urbanisation challenges, examines some of the major global challenges facing cities today. Throughout, we will explore influential ideas which have changed our thinking about cities, and look at how urban governments and planners have sought to respond to the challenges of urbanisation.

20 credits

Climate Action

Humans are altering the climate, with significant impacts on livelihoods, wellbeing, equality, and the environment across the globe.  While international organisations and governments are crucial in mitigating and adapting to these threats, individual and small group collective action are also essential in creatively exploring how the necessary changes can be realistically and equitably implemented.

 

This module uses the community linked to the University as a Living Lab.  Focusing on one aspect of daily life in which there is potential for more mitigation or better adaptation, you will identify and plan an investigation or intervention (a 'project') to take a step towards more or better climate action.  You will need to justify your choices by elaborating what you would consider success, how you would deliver it, as well as assessing the impact of its wider implementation.

10 credits

Urban Economics

This module provides an introduction to economic concepts and theories and to the way in which they are applied to the analysis of selected markets and policy challenges. The module seeks to offer an economic perspective on planning issues by focusing on land market and urban development. The overall aim of the module is to develop students' understanding of the economic environment within which planners and other urban professions operate and to enhance understanding of economic theory and the property market in general.

10 credits

Cities, space and urban design

The module will explore the fundamentals in the mediation and analysis of space. This module introduces the core principles of reading, representing, and interpreting the physical organisation of space in cities, and examines the core components of the spatial environment and how they can be analysed. The module will equip students with basic orthographic projection drawing (a means of representing a three-dimensional object in two dimensions) and analytical skills  to explore and make sense of spatial data.  Students will also learn the fundamentals of visual communication via posters. Teaching will draw on practical examples, using workshops, lectures, context-based study and student-led site visits to develop skills in analysis of spaces and their design.

10 credits

Development, Planning and the State

The module provides an introduction to spatial planning in theory and practice, exploring arguments for and against spatial planning and the rationale for state intervention into land and property development. The first part of the module covers key debates on the purposes of planning, the historical development of planning as a state activity and the current structure of national, regional and local government. The central part of the module introduces key aspects of the English planning system and key debates about its role and purpose. The final third of the module explores how spatial planning responds to major societal challenges.

20 credits

Professional Skills Development (L1)

* A foundation to articulate the skills-based nature of study in USP.
* An opportunity to recognise the importance of, and your responsibility for, the development of key professional and employability-related skills.
* A series of support sessions to help you get the most out of your learning experience and prepare you for professional employment at the end of your studies.

This module seeks to deliver a range of professional and employability-related skills over the academic year, tailored to each student cohort, to introduce skills development and to tailor support towards the final stages of study.

Optional modules (20 credits from a range of modules including):

Housing and Home

Issues relating to housing, homes, streets and neighbourhoods that we live in are in the news every day. Whether this is over concerns about housing shortages, affordability, housing bubbles, 'generation rent', social housing, housing evictions, Covid lockdown, city-centre housing, DIY and 'grand designs', or debates about the domestic sphere, 'home as a haven', 'benefit streets', flooding and shack settlements, housing is often at the centre of social science research. This module aims to introduce students to this broad and diverse subject by drawing on the expertise of staff who research across these multiple themes. The module focuses on contemporary concerns, while maintaining an appreciation of the impact of historical trends (e.g. the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/8). The module will make use of cases from the UK and abroad to illustrate trends, arguments and challenges. The module introduced students to various concepts and debates relating to housing, as well as indicating the linkages to housing and urban policy.

10 credits

Cities and Inequality

The main aim of Cities and Inequality  is to introduce you to our urban condition in a global context, with particular attention to the multiple forms of inequality that pervade urban life. Drawing on a wide range of expertise within the Department, we will introduce you to a range of key issues in contemporary urban studies and help you to understand more about the roots of urban problems and questions of social differentiation and injustice in a range of global urban contexts. The course also aims to develop students' capacity for comparative urban analysis

10 credits

Living with Environmental Change

This module will introduce students to a wide range of critical environmental issues facing the world today from physical science and social science perspectives. Using a range of environmental problems evident in the Global North and Global South (such as climate change, habitat loss, water resources, land-use change, agriculture), the physical and social processes implicated will be examined. Drawing on a range of examples, students will critically explore the causes, consequences, management and solutions to environmental issues and learn how to question assumptions about environmental processes.

20 credits

Why Geography Matters

Geography helps us plan for the future by investigating social and physical processes as they interconnect from the past through to the present. Geographers actively contribute to contemporary debates across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities.  We address some of the most pressing issues facing the modern world linking to social justice and environmental change.  Serving as a bridge between the general introductory modules, and the more specialist modules taught at levels 2 and 3, this module provides an opportunity for students to engage with topical issues in contemporary human and physical geography led by academics actively engaged in cutting edge research who are informing real world policy and practice.  The module provides a challenging but accessible insight into the origins of the discipline and how these translate into the cutting edge of contemporary geographical research, and how this helps us understand and contribute to our changing world.  The module will also begin to highlight for students how knowledge is always produced and reflective of those who produce it in ways that reinforce the positionality of some and silence others.

The following particular skills will be achieved in this module: exchanging knowledge; networking; emotional intelligence; inclusivity; positive mindset; innovation; commercial awareness.

20 credits

Exploring Human Geographies

The module provides an introduction to key principles, relations and processes that contribute to a diverse array of social, cultural, economic and environmental aspects of human geography.  It looks at spatial patterns of power, inequality and interdependence produced by economic and cultural globalisation, how we experience these at the local scale and and how they have changed over time.  It outlines key concepts and current debates shaping how human geographers approach these issues by drawing on examples from around the world and at a variety of geographical scales.  It highlights the value of a geographical perspective on the world we live in.

20 credits

Education, Power and Society: Introduction to the Sociology of Education

This module explores the relationship between educational institutions/cultures/systems and social inequalities. We focus on class, gender, ethnicity and disability and look at the ways in which education systems serve to tackle or reproduce patterns of inequality and relations of power. The module also evaluates different policy frameworks and goals. For example, whether the focus of education policy should be placed on nurturing active citizenship (and what this would look like) or whether the main priority should be to serve the needs of the economy (and how this might be achieved).

20 credits

Introducing Criminology

Crime is a major social problem in virtually all societies. In this module, sociological understandings of crime are discussed, often with reference to their implications for policy. The module will introduce you to major research about crime in contemporary Britain and help you to understand the contribution of sociology to its analysis. This module will be of value to anyone thinking about a career in the criminal justice services, journalism, public service, the voluntary sector and anyone interested in understanding the significance of crime in contemporary British society

10 credits

Introduction to Media and Communication in Society

This module examines the relationship between media and society. It examines the nature of influence and persuasion, representation, ownership, and identity in contemporary media environments.

10 credits

Gender, Sexuality and Society

This unit intends to address the following questions regarding gender and sexuality and their interaction with society: What do we mean by gender and sexuality? How do we do gender and sexuality? How do we see gender and sexuality? How do we control gender and sexuality?

10 credits

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

Whether you're a journalist writing stories for the public, or a social research analyst working in government, you need to be able to understand, use and present data. This 10 credit module aims to demystify data and encourage critical thinking on statistics; often wrongly used, and sometimes in very misleading ways. The module will equip you with the knowledge and skills you'll need to become a discerning data user, through engaging teaching, active learning and examples from the news media. The module is comprised of a mix of lectures and computer workshops and is assessed through a multiple choice exam.

10 credits

Social Psychology I

This module will provide an overview of the fundamentals of social psychology. The module will introduce and explain key theories and research, and their application, for understanding social psychological phenomena. Content is organised around two themes: How people think, and how people feel and behave. The module will include lectures that will provide opportunities to learn how to critically evaluate social psychological research and theories, as well as to describe how social psychology theory can be applied to address real world issues.

20 credits

Core modules:

Urban Design and Place-Making

The overall aim of the module is to improve students' understanding and critical appreciation of the ideas, practices and techniques of urban design, focusing particularly on the contemporary context for place-making.

20 credits

Urban Analytics

This module will serve as an introduction to quantitative and spatial analytical methods, with a specific focus on understanding, interpreting and presenting secondary data in urban contexts. It will expose students to a variety of substantive issues surrounding the use of data in practice and enhance their understanding of methods used in real world policy settings. Students will access and use a range of different datasets, covering demographics, property, and land use and will analyse them using both spatial and aspatial methods. They will be required to demonstrate competence in accessing, analysing and presenting such data using both aspatial and spatial methods in order to gain a deeper understanding of key issues facing urban settings.

20 credits

Urban Theory

This module aims to develop student's imaginative engagement with the nature of urban life and human settlement. Urban theory refers to writing and thinking devoted to 'seeing' and understanding urban life - ideas are critical to how we engage with the key features and problems of the urban world. Theory is also important to our understanding of how cities work in practice - how we understand and view urban life is critical to the development of cities and to efforts seeking to make them more socially just, sustainable and better places to live. Urban Theory introduces a range of ideas and key concepts in urban studies with a view to understanding how cities have developed and how they 'work' in broad terms. The module considers a range of thinkers, ideas and problems.

20 credits

Researching the city: applied skills for practice

Level Two study of urban design, urban management, social research methods and the distinctiveness of place is enhanced by learning about how to conduct research in urban context. Students taking this module will consider various topics, such as the impact of planning policy, flood management, urban ethnicity and social segregation, housing developments, or issues in the use of public space, through learning about and, circumstances permitting, conducting field investigation. They will be introduced to a range of qualitative and quantitative research skills and techniques, as well as interpretative methods.

20 credits

City makers

Drawing on cities from different contexts, this module provides an introduction to the administrative, economic and socio-political contexts in which city making takes place, as well as the role that different groups and interests play in mediating and affecting urban transformation. In doing so, the module will explore questions around the agency of built environment professionals  and how the relationships between stakeholders, development projects, finance, activists, and trade-offs in agendas impact the ability of planners and other built environment professionals to pursue the public interest.

20 credits

Planning, Viability and Development

This module explores the real estate development process and the various influences on the viability of successful development projects. It examines the structure of real estate markets, the roles and objectives of the various stakeholders involved in real estate development, the main aspects of real estate development appraisal and the ways which planning, risk and design influence profitability. Students will work towards recommending a development proposal that offers the greatest likelihood of a successful outcome and in doing so, learn to balance the competing demands of planning, viability and real estate development.

20 credits

Professional Skills Development (L2)

This module will provide a space for you to consider, plan and reflect on your personal and professional development as you complete your degree programme. It will support you to identify and reflect on the professional and technical skills gained through your other modules as well as the transferable skills covered in the Sheffield Graduate Attributes.  It will provide information, advice and support in order to help you get the most out of your learning experience and, through developing self-awareness and reflective skills, to prepare for professional employment or higher-level study. It will also provide an opportunity for you to practice some of the skills required for success in the recruitment process. It will enable you to articulate and professionally present your skills and strengths in a format suitable for a speculative placement role application.

Core modules:

Plan making and development

This is an applied project module that provides a thorough grounding in the processes of strategic planning, drawing together and integrating skills developed through Levels 1-3.

20 credits

Sustainable Cities

This module aims to help students understand current agendas and approaches to environmental and infrastructure planning. The module is set within the context of sustainability and  green infrastructure and considers the role of urban planning and design in climate change mitigation and adaptation. Students will make use of urban design and GIS approaches to develop a master-plan that responds to the urban challenges posed by climate change.

20 credits

Housing and Urban Inequalities

The aims of this Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) accredited module are to build on substantive knowledge, theory and skills about housing. Emphasis is placed on policy, practice, strategy analysis and understanding the links between housing, planning, social policies and outcomes at national, regional and local levels. The module further aims to: increase understanding of contemporary issues and debates in housing and housing policy and strategies; understand the causes and manifestations of problems, dilemmas and conflicts in housing systems and policy processes; and to develop abilities to synthesise and apply knowledge by understanding and critically assessing potential policy approaches to addressing housing problems.

20 credits

Planning Law

This course will provide a thorough introduction to the rationale, purposes and values that underpin the legal control of development, including the legal framework for the English planning system and the procedures for the control of development in the English planning system

20 credits

Professional Skills Development (L3)

This module will provide a space for you to consider, plan and reflect on your personal and professional development as you complete your degree programme. It will support you to identify and reflect on the professional and technical skills gained through your other modules as well as the transferable skills covered in the Sheffield Graduate Attributes.  It will provide information, advice and support in order to help you get the most out of your learning experience and, through developing self-awareness and reflective skills, to prepare for professional employment or higher-level study. It will also provide an opportunity to learn advanced skills required for success in the recruitment process.

Dissertation

This module allows students to develop and manage an individual research project. Building on their topic ideas (submitted at Level 2, linked to TRP215) where they identified a potential research focus, students will refine their topic selection, develop an appropriate research design to address this, and conduct primary or secondary research to provide critical insight and analysis of the issue. The module aims to develop students' skills in scoping and refining an appropriate research topic, expand and deepen their knowledge of social research methods, and support them to design and undertake an appropriate and feasible programme of research. The module will contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of research in relation to theoretical and practical dimensions of urban studies and planning, and will allow students to deepen their own knowledge in a chosen field of specialist planning concern related to their degree programme. The module will be of interest and practical use to students in carrying out their individual research projects, and in introducing a range of research, analytical and writing skills that will be useful in future careers.

40 credits

Core modules:

Participatory Planning

This applied module introduces students to the theory and practice of participatory planning and builds on students' prior learning about the social purposes of planning and the need for effective, inclusive participatory processes as a fundamental basis for good planning and creation of more sustainable and equitable places. Focusing on selected localities, this module will involve students working in small groups to collate evidence on the history and current situation of the locality and generate ideas for its future development which draw on an understanding of its assets, issues and challenges. Having received relevant training, students will then be required to prepare and deliver a 'Planning for Real (PfR) session to local A-level Geography students to elicit their views on the area's development with the school students briefed to undertake particular roles within this. Through a learning-by-doing approach, the module challenges students to apply their existing knowledge of planning and place-making whilst developing new skills in participatory practice.



30 credits

Development Planning

This module examines evolving approaches to spatial regulation through the planning system. The module considers the mechanisms used to make decisions about development through planning control and development plans. The module explores the changing priorities for governments in the regulation of development and issues of power, control, influence and public engagement with the planning system. The module takes an international perspective that compares and contrasts the basis for spatial regulation in different national and urban contexts.

30 credits

Professional Skills Development (L4)

This module will provide a space for students to consider, plan and reflect on their personal and professional development as they complete your degree programme. It will support students to identify and reflect on the professional and technical skills gained through their other modules as well as the transferable skills covered in the Sheffield Graduate Attributes.  It will provide information, advice and support in order to help students get the most out of their learning experience and, through developing self-awareness and reflective skills, to prepare for professional employment or higher-level study. It will also provide an opportunity to learn advanced skills required for success in the recruitment process.

Planning Law

The module is intended to give students an expertise in the legal framework for the planning system and to set that legal framework within the wider context of law in the United Kingdom. It considers the origins of planning law and seeks to provide explanations for the powers that the law confers on decision makers. The course focuses particularly on the development control aspects of planning law and looks at the rights and duties of applicants, local authorities and the Secretary of State in making and determining planning applications. It considers the criteria for decision making and the possibilities for the redress of grievance. It considers planning law in the light of wider discussions about human rights and planning gain.

15 credits

Optional modules:

Cities of Diversity

Acknowledging diversity within cities is increasingly regarded as central to successful planning, urban development and city making and is a very hotly debated issue currently, particularly with #MeToo, tensions in the post-Brexit context and the aftermath of Trump! But what do we mean by diversity and what theories exist to help us understand it? This module will focus on various aspects of diversity in the form of differing social identities (such as age, ethnicity, sexuality, disability and gender - including focusing on masculinity within cities) but also critically explore the ways in which diversity is understood by policy makers and city managers. The module will focus on cities in both the global South and North and consider the significance of migration in relation to diversity in both contexts. The module will rely on a critical engagement with literature from the discipline of geography, planning, urban studies and development studies.

15 credits

Citizen Participation in Planning and Development

Recent decades have seen a proliferation of initiatives to involve citizens in policy-making, planning and urban governance. There is widespread agreement that 'citizen engagement' can play a positive role in democratizing urban development. However, public participation raises a range of significant challenges for urban professional practice. This unit will draw on critical debates about the roles citizens and publics can and should play in shaping the city to reflect on the theory and practice of participation. The module is taught through seminars which structure learning, and help students to research case studies of participatory initiatives.

15 credits

Advanced Software Skills in Urban Design

This option module will provide students with the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge of key 2D, 3D and immersive technology (Virtual reality and augmented reality) design software packages which are increasingly required to visually communicate development proposals and ideas within the urban design and planning professions. The module will equip students with a broad understanding of different methods of communicating urban design ideas using digital technologies, and a critical appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of design software packages enabling the effective selection and utilisation of appropriate software in order to perform a range of different urban design tasks.

15 credits

Health, Wellbeing and the City

This module explores the urban environment as a determinant of health and well-being and examines how planning and urban design can contribute to improvements in health. Beginning with an exploration of the historic relationship between planning and public health, the module focuses on how urban  environmentst support or undermines health in relation to mental health, ageing, obesity, air quality and noise pollution. The module also introduces the notion of health impact assessment and further reflects on the contribution of planning to environmental justice and the reduction of inequalities in health.

15 credits

Advanced GIS Methods

This unit is aimed at students who already have a good degree of knowledge in ArcGIS. The module aims to develop in students a high degree of competence in relation to advanced spatial analysis, understanding spatial approaches to problem solving and the theories and precepts which underlie software applications in GIS. The module is taught in a series of inter-related computer workshops focusing on real-world data and problem scenarios. The assessment for this module is based on a multiple choice exam and a 2,000 word advanced methods report.

15 credits

International Real Estate Market Analysis

This module will provide a comprehensive introduction to key concepts and approaches to the analysis of international real estate markets. This module makes a simple operational distinction between mature, emergent and transitional markets as a first step towards a systematic framework for analysis. It gives an introduction to specific real estate markets and the ways in which they function, and offers generalizable conclusions about the wider operation of global real estate markets. Students will develop knowledge and understanding of global political economy as a context for interpreting real estate markets.

15 credits

Urban Informality

The overall aim of this module is to critically examine informality, with a particular but not exclusive focus on cities of the Global South. The module relies on a mixture of lectures, seminars and student-led group work, with the latter focusing on an in-depth case study of a selected city. It explores patterns and causes of informality and discusses the strengths and limitations of a range of theoretical approaches. It also analyses the success of different real-world urban planning responses (understood in broad terms), including government-led, donor-led and community-focused ones, in addressing key urban issues in the context of informality.

15 credits

Mega Urban Projects

In many cities nowadays, mega urban projects such as mega events like the Olympic Games or Central Business Districts like Canary Wharf are seen as an effective means to boost the local economy and to promote the city on a global scale. However, many of them often fail to contribute to the local economy whilst having detrimental impacts on local residents and the wider society. This module offers an in-depth understanding of the development processes and outcomes of large-scale urban projects by exploring aspects of why such projects are developed, how they are governed and their socio-economic impacts.

15 credits

Core modules:

Participatory Planning

This applied module introduces students to the theory and practice of participatory planning and builds on students' prior learning about the social purposes of planning and the need for effective, inclusive participatory processes as a fundamental basis for good planning and creation of more sustainable and equitable places. Focusing on selected localities, this module will involve students working in small groups to collate evidence on the history and current situation of the locality and generate ideas for its future development which draw on an understanding of its assets, issues and challenges. Having received relevant training, students will then be required to prepare and deliver a 'Planning for Real (PfR) session to local A-level Geography students to elicit their views on the area's development with the school students briefed to undertake particular roles within this. Through a learning-by-doing approach, the module challenges students to apply their existing knowledge of planning and place-making whilst developing new skills in participatory practice.



30 credits

Development Planning

This module examines evolving approaches to spatial regulation through the planning system. The module considers the mechanisms used to make decisions about development through planning control and development plans. The module explores the changing priorities for governments in the regulation of development and issues of power, control, influence and public engagement with the planning system. The module takes an international perspective that compares and contrasts the basis for spatial regulation in different national and urban contexts.

30 credits

Professional Skills Development (L4)

This module will provide a space for students to consider, plan and reflect on their personal and professional development as they complete your degree programme. It will support students to identify and reflect on the professional and technical skills gained through their other modules as well as the transferable skills covered in the Sheffield Graduate Attributes.  It will provide information, advice and support in order to help students get the most out of their learning experience and, through developing self-awareness and reflective skills, to prepare for professional employment or higher-level study. It will also provide an opportunity to learn advanced skills required for success in the recruitment process.

Planning in Europe

This 60 credit triple module enables students to study for part of semester 2 in either Lyon, France; Aalborg, Denmark; or Milan, Italy under the EU's Socrates programme. The module is taken in a planning department at an overseas university which offers professional courses. The module consists of practical work under the supervision of staff at the host university and it is assessed at the University of Sheffield, by methods to be formulated in conjunction with the host institution. The aims of the module are to develop an extensive understanding of the process of developing sites, the nature of professional work and the importance of interdisciplinary working, within a particular European context and its culture of planning and development decision-making.

60 credits