Geography and Planning – BA (Honours)

At a glance

Study human geography, including cultural, economic and political activity at both the local and the global scale, with an emphasis on urban planning. You develop your understanding of the role of planning with fieldwork in cities such as London, Paris and Berlin, and have the opportunity to go on placements with organisations such as Transport for London.

Key points• Study human geography with a focus on urban planning.
• Go on field visits to cities such as London, Freiburg and Berlin.
• Gain experience with a work-placement in an organisation such as the Environment Agency.
• Choose to study abroad at one of our partner universities in Europe, Australia or Canada.

What is geography and planning?Geography explores our understanding of cultural, economic, environmental, political and social processes and how they interact in different places and spaces. Planning is concerned with creating sustainable and attractive places where present and future generations can live better lives. Combining the two enables you to study geography and explore how spatial thinking can be applied in practice to make real and positive change.

This course

On this course you gain a firm foundation in human geography, developing your understanding of cultural, economic, environmental, political and social processes and how they interact in different places and spaces. You couple this with the theoretical understanding and practical skills needed to plan, deliver and critically appraise well-designed places and to protect, improve and regenerate the environment in our towns, cities and countryside.

We have a range of teaching and assessments to make your learning a creative and dynamic process. You attend lectures which engage with the theoretical ideas about geography and planning and their interactions with the natural, built and human environment. These are followed by seminars and workshops where you can discuss ideas and apply them in practice.

Your modules use a variety of assessment tasks, which will involve you writing papers, analysing and presenting data, preparing posters, preparing design briefs, making policy and assessing the impacts of development. You also develop your IT, communication and research skills, which are vital for your future career.

In preparation for your career, it’s important for you to gain a hands-on understanding of what you’re studying. That’s why your classroom activity includes developing important skills such as working on geographical informational systems (GIS), Photoshop, spatial analysis and site analysis.

Fieldwork also allows you to put what you’re learning into practice in context. This currently involves local and regional day visits, and residential field visits to European cities including Freiburg, Berlin and Barcelona.

You also have the opportunity to apply what you’ve learnt in a professional setting with either a short period of work experience or a one year placement. This is a great chance to choose a career path and improve your employment and starting salary prospects when you graduate. You can apply to work in organisations such as • local authorities • wildlife trusts • the Environment Agency • Transport for London.

Your studies are supported by our award-winning learning centre facilities. You benefit from excellent computer suites with IT technician support and specialist software, including the latest geographical information system (GIS) software. We also have a resources room, which is used for printing, accessing maps and storing subject-specific material. Our map room contains networked computers running specialist software, such as ArcGIS and ENVI.

As well as being active in research our staff have worked in most areas of planning including local planning, transport planning, urban regeneration, urban design, delivering major projects and environmental and rural planning. So we are well placed for linking theory to practice, bringing in a range of outside speakers and having real world projects for you to work on.

Key areas of study
Key areas include • sustainable development and regeneration • environmental planning • urban design • contemporary debates in geography • development issues in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.