Higher/Degree Apprenticeship Chartered Town Planner

In this module, you'll explore how communities and neighbourhoods are defined and how people can participate in planning and decision-making. Themes may include inclusion, citizenship, identity, diversity and equality, stakeholder and policy groups, governance, partnership working, power sharing and collaborative planning. You'll examine ways to gather and critically review information about communities, involve hard-to-reach groups and build capacity for effective participation. The module will also consider how to plan, carry out and document community, stakeholder and political engagement, helping you develop practical skills for promoting inclusive involvement.

This module will introduce approaches to researching cities and urban change. You'll develop a research question and explore methods suited to investigating urban environments, communities and processes. Learning will combine conceptual understanding with practical research activity, helping you consider research design, evidence, ethics and the challenges of working in city contexts. You may use qualitative, quantitative or spatial approaches to collect and analyse information. By interpreting urban data and communicating findings, you'll build research skills relevant to further study and professional work concerning cities.

In this module, you'll explore the principles, challenges and practical responses involved in creating healthy, sustainable neighbourhoods. You'll examine connections between people, place and environmental systems, with attention to climate change, health inequalities, resource pressures and sustainable development. Using policy, academic literature, spatial data, case studies, fieldwork and digital analysis, you'll investigate how population dynamics and urban form influence wellbeing. You'll learn to appraise places as complex systems, evaluate planning and design responses, recognise trade-offs and use evidence to support healthier, more resilient and sustainable communities.

This module will examine how global forces shape cities and how planning responds to rapid urban change. You'll explore contrasting international contexts and consider issues such as urban growth, governance, infrastructure, inequality and environmental sustainability. Comparative examples will help you analyse relationships between global processes and local conditions, including the different actors and interests involved in planning decisions. Through critical engagement with theory, policy and practice, you'll develop an informed understanding of the opportunities, tensions and responsibilities involved in planning the future of global cities.

This module will enable you to undertake an independent dissertation on a spatial planning topic. You'll define a focused research question, critically review relevant literature and select an appropriate methodology for gathering and analysing evidence. Supported by supervision, you'll manage an extended research process, address ethical considerations and connect your findings with planning theory, policy or practice. By interpreting evidence and constructing a coherent argument, you'll develop advanced research, critical thinking, project management and written communication skills relevant to professional or further academic work.

This module will develop strategic planning skills through applied work focused on a city or urban area. You'll investigate a place, analyse evidence and identify the interacting social, economic, environmental and spatial issues shaping its future. Working with planning concepts and practical methods, you'll consider priorities, stakeholders, policy options and implementation challenges. The city-lab approach will help you connect strategic thinking with real contexts, strengthening your ability to synthesise complex information, formulate reasoned proposals and communicate planning ideas clearly to different audiences.

This module will introduce the principles and core skills involved in creating plans across different spatial scales and sectors. You'll explore why plans are needed, how visions and strategic goals are developed, and how evidence, scenarios and forecasts inform decisions. Indicative topics include infrastructure planning, collaborative plan-making, impact assessment, deliverability, public examination and the monitoring and evaluation of policies. Drawing on historical, international and comparative perspectives, you'll consider planning reform, climate change, housing, place-making and varied stakeholder interests.

In this module, you'll develop a practical and theoretical understanding of how development is managed through planning systems, law and policy. You'll examine regulatory and discretionary frameworks, development plans, decision-making processes and the mechanisms used to implement and deliver development. Working with site-specific proposals, you'll strengthen your ability to interpret policy and guidance, assess evidence and build reasoned arguments. The module will consider planning gain, viability and internationally comparative practice, while emphasising outcome-focused development management and the effectiveness of planning processes.

Combining strategic planning with practice-based professional experience, this module will develop your understanding of long-term spatial change. You'll examine population and economic projections, strategic growth, large-scale housing, infrastructure investment and nationally significant projects, including debates about need, democracy, scale and participation. UK practice will be considered alongside international insights. Through engagement with professional planning environments, you'll strengthen strategic thinking, leadership, ethical practice, stakeholder engagement and reflective learning, applying academic knowledge to complex planning and infrastructure contexts.

This module will introduce the historical, theoretical and ethical foundations of urban and rural spatial planning, with particular attention to developments since 1945. You'll examine ideas that shaped post-war planning, the physical design tradition, critiques of that approach, and the emergence of systems and rational process perspectives. Alongside these histories, you'll critically consider the legitimacy, scope and purposes of statutory planning. Themes will include public interest, social and environmental justice, sustainable development, postcolonial critiques and the political nature of planning decisions.

The dissertation will enable you to carry out an individual, in-depth investigation into a planning issue that interests you. You'll define an appropriate research question or hypothesis and design a strategy for answering it, supported by an allocated supervisor. Building on research methods training, you'll consider different philosophies, assumptions, values and questions of objectivity. You'll develop advanced skills in collecting and analysing information or data, addressing methodological and ethical issues, drawing on relevant theory, presenting clear conclusions or recommendations, and reflecting critically on the project's limitations.