Structure
Content
The course is structured on a modular basis and is an integral part our postgraduate scheme, which means that modules can, within reason, be taken in any order and at a pace to suit your commitments. Some modules are shared with the MA in Town and Country Planning, reflecting the continuity between these disciplines. You will also complete a masters level dissertation.
Urban Design and the Public Realm
This module aims to develop your appreciation of the conditions for successful public spaces, through a project for a community in Bristol. Through a seminar programme you will develop your understanding of the factors that can enhance the attractiveness or, alternatively, the unattractiveness and deterioration, of urban public spaces. You will discuss how to analyse these factors and develop an appreciation of the part which urban and landscape design can play in enhancing the attractiveness of public spaces, in comparison with wider social and economic forces.
The module is also designed to develop an appreciation of, and sensitivity towards, the different interests that various groups in society have with respect to public spaces, and hence the degree to which different public spaces provide for different social groups (such as children; teenagers; the elderly; the disabled; parents with children; etc).
Most importantly the course develops your skills at designing urban public spaces, especially with respect to the creation and landscape design of attractive spaces.
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- Design or re-design urban public space in a way that shows an understanding of and a sensitivity towards spatial relationships, landscape, and the behaviour and interests of people using the space.
- Discuss intelligently the various factors (social as well as physical) which contribute to success and failure of the public realm; so that the design of public spaces is seen within the context of a given social way of life and, in particular, the extent to which that way of life is permeated by public or private concerns.
Aesthetics and Urban Design Theory
This module will provide an introductory overview to the nature and status of urban design theory as a whole, examining such matters as the relationship between physical urban form, and human behaviour and well-being, including the vexed issue of physical or environmental determinism in town planning and architectural thought.
The topic of 'design and crime' will be examined as a particular example to illustrate claims and counter-claims about the relationship between the physical form of the built environment and human behaviour, and as a vehicle for highlighting important questions about the nature and status of theory in relation to urban design.
Within the context of this general introduction to urban design theory, this course/module will then concentrate on ideas and theory about the aesthetic aspects of urban form and design. It will examine what 'aesthetics' - and hence the 'aesthetic' aspect of urban design - is or might be about, how given townscapes and/or urban designs can be analysed in terms of their aesthetic content, and how we might conceive the main components of the aesthetic aspects of urban design.
The module will also examine the alleged subjectivity of aesthetics, and whether this undermines rational debate about the aesthetics of urban design. In relation to this issue, the course will examine the general field of studies into environmental psychology and perception, and whether such studies can provide firmer, more scientific grounds for developing better theory for urban design, both in general, and in relation to the aesthetics of urban design in particular.
Planning and Design Quality
"Good design is indivisible from good planning."
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, (ODPM) (2005) Planning Policy Statement 1 Paragraph 33.
The quotation above, taken from central government's latest government policy statement on planning, succinctly sums up the current thinking on the importance of good design. The plethora of publications produced in the last few years by the ODPM, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and many other bodies, reinforces the ODPM's message that good design is essential to the achievement of sustainable communities.
The module Planning and Design Quality, in responding to this agenda, addresses the complex question: what is quality in the built environment? It explores the objectives of urban design that together can combine to create high quality places but also recognises the factors that militate against the creation of good quality and considers how these impediments can be overcome through planning and urban design strategies. At the end of the module you should be aware of all the tools that can be used by planners to stimulate a high standard of design and be able to negotiate good design solutions.
Central to the module is the activity of place-making, in recognition that planners have an important role in achieving development that will stand the test of time, meet the needs of the diverse population and create places that will reflect 21st century aspirations.
Masterplanning and Urban Regeneration
This module is intended to develop and extend your skills in the professional practice of urban design. In collaboration with local authority partners, you will be introduced to a 'live' project that requires urban design expertise.
Working in conjunction with the local authority, and other project stakeholders, you will formulate urban design strategies in response to a collectively developed brief. The strategies adopted will be directly related to the project circumstances but may include: masterplanning, design guidance, public realm design, etc.
Please note that the running of this module is subject to the availability of an agreed project with a local authority.
Housing and Urban Design
This module addresses the role of urban design in relation to housing. As a major physical component of any settlement, with far-reaching social, environmental and economic consequences, the layout and design of housing plays a crucial part in the establishment of successful, vibrant communities. Urban design itself has an important role in relation to guiding and framing the residential fabric of our cities so that it supports positive social, environmental and economic outcomes. In this module you will explore this role and develop your urban design skills through a small housing project.
Design in Sensitive Areas
This module aims to give you the experience of balancing the need to ensure that a development is economically, structurally and functionally feasible whilst fitting into an historic street scene. The module focuses on design using development in a historic context. You have to take on the role of developer, architect, highway engineer and urban designer and thus have to undertake financial appraisal and building design as well as townscape analysis and detailed site planning. Lectures and workshops related to the necessary skills support the design project that is central to the module.
The complexities of the design and development process are explored in through case studies. Conservation projects and strategies in Britain are evaluated in depth and are compared with schemes in another member state of the European Union. This comparative element requires a residential study visit to a European city; Barcelona, Berlin and Lisbon have been used on a number of occasions. You prepare detailed reports analysing conservation projects from the point of view of aims, organisation, funding, impacts and appraisal of the designs.
Sustainable Design
This module is about design strategies for achieving sustainable development. 'Design' in this context is the planning and design of a major urban extension on land within the mainly built up area of the Bristol conurbation. The focus is on producing a masterplan for the area. Masterplanning is a skill that is at the core of what an urban designer claims to be able to do. The masterplan is a tool of implementation, a means of converting planning policy into practical developments.
Sustainable development is a more problematic concept. As now defined by the United Nations, the European Union and the UK Government it is an all-embracing principle that should underpin all policy areas, industrial production and our decisions about life-style. It is immensely ambitious, seeing new development, cities, indeed the world, in holistic terms - all of us as part of an integrated, interconnected web of existence. The recent UK sustainable development strategy document Securing the Future defines the purpose of the strategy as
"to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations."
The Government argues that it is not a matter of achieving environmental sustainability or social equity or a sustainable economy, but of working positively towards all three at the same time, not a 'winner takes all' approach, but 'win-win-win'.
The problem is the conversion of rhetoric into action. This is where this module comes in. How can we plan the spatial development of an area so as to give the maximum opportunity for reducing unsustainable practice and constructing a sustainable future? Note that word opportunity. As designers we do not determine how people choose to live, but we do open up or close down desirable choices. That is the challenge.
Research for Policy and Practice
This module is common to all postgraduate courses in the Department and prepares you for the dissertation.
Dissertation
The dissertation can either be of conventional written format or contain a high design content.
The course and the modules within it are regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain up to date and relevant. Some modules may change before the course starts or whilst you are on it, but the overall aims and broad content of the course will remain the same.
Teaching and learning
The teaching staff provide a friendly, enabling environment for learning. Drawn from across the Department they reflect the interdisciplinary nature of urban design and include planners, architects, landscape architects, geographers and philosophers. They are also actively engaged in research or professional practice, ensuring that you learn directly from the latest academic and practice developments.
The considerable record of publications, research and consultancy in many aspects of urban design undertaken by the teaching team underpins the content of the course.
The teaching and learning pattern is varied: a combination of lectures, seminars, projects, or studio sessions, site visits and workshops, which develop skills, for example in drawing, visual analysis or costing.
Much of your work will be presented graphically, through drawing or Computer Aided Design software.
Study time
The course starts with a short induction programme, in late September, when formal enrolment takes place. It can be studied on either a part-time or full-time basis; part-time over 28 months, with attendance on two days per fortnight, full-time over 12 months with formal contact two days per week. Modules are studied between late September and the end of the following May. The period from May to September and beyond is mainly devoted to work on the dissertation.
Assessment
Virtually all assessment is by coursework only, on the basis of individual work or joint work. The dissertation is a major individual piece of work on a topic that reflects your own area of interest. The study can be undertaken in a variety of appropriate ways and may include exhibitions, models, video and design schemes, supported by a report, as well as a more conventional written dissertation.
One of our main aims is to foster an active graduate community, encompassing students on postgraduate taught courses and students undertaking research degrees. There are currently around 800 students on postgraduate taught courses, and about 60 postgraduate research students. Graduate students have a dedicated space on the main campus, with teaching rooms and informal areas. Each course has a student adviser who provides pastoral support and general advice.
You may also use the well equipped laboratories for concrete and environmental services, environmental physics, earth sciences, spatial analysis (including mapping and Geographical Information Systems) and surveying technology, each with specialist technicians supporting both teaching and research. An audio-visual group provides support for photography, digital imaging, filming and sound recording.
The Faculty has invested in online and offline computer-based resources to support modules, and especially those offered by distance learning. You also have access to a vast number of journals and databases online through the UWE Bristol library. The library and some computer labs on campus are open 24 hours, and the Faculty's suite of computer rooms supports software for word processing, data analysis, spatial analysis, computer aided design and other specialist software required by our students.
Entry
Entry requirements
We require a first degree of 2:2 or above or equivalent.
Fees
For information on our fees please visit our money matters page.
Panasonic Trust Fellowships
Students on this course are eligible to apply for a Panasonic Trust Fellowship, which is worth £8,000. Further details can be obtained from the Royal Academy of Engineering at www.raeng.org.uk.
How to apply
Please see the general information about applications.
We welcome applicants with first degrees in the built environment professions, such as architects, town planners, highway engineers, surveyors, landscape architects and town centre managers.
We welcome applications from students without the conventional entrance requirements but who do have substantial relevant work or other experience and whose motivation and skills would enable them to succeed on the course.
We also welcome applications from people with disabilities, and we are happy to arrange visits for disabled applicants to find out whether the course is suitable, and discuss what support is appropriate.
International applicants (non UK and EU) should aim to apply by the end of June to allow time to arrange their accommodation, finance and visa.
For further information
Page last updated 14 December 2011