The Department of Planning (within the School of the Built Environment) is one of the largest and most diverse 'planning schools' of its kind in both the UK and Europe.
With more than 600 students engaging a wide range of research topics in our undergraduate, postgraduate and research degree programmes, including Masters by research, the department is widely recognised as a leading educator in environment, design and development subjects. With a complement of over 60 teaching, administrative, technical and research staff, the department performs a leading role in research and consultancy, with clients and projects covering subjects from local concerns to multi-national organisations, government and industry.
Postgraduate study
We are the largest planning department in the country and were the first to be awarded the maximum score for teaching quality by the government's quality assurance agency.
Research
The Impact Assessment Group is a designated EC Europa Centre of Excellence in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which brings together one of the largest teams of expertise in this field worldwide. Our research activity was independently assessed as being of ‘international standing' in both the 2001 and 1996 Higher Education Funding Council for England Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) amongst UK universities. Our clients include, amongst others, the European Commission, UK Government/Agencies, local government and the commercial sector.
The Spatial Planning Group brings together a wide range of intellectual and policy concerns within spatial planning and cognate fields, both nationally and internationally. Much of its work falls under the heading of sustainable development, with a particular focus on three major areas of study: Planning Thought and Governance; Economic Development, Innovation and Regeneration; and Accessibility, Transportation and Migration. The group reflects a commitment to recognise and build on cross-cutting and multidisciplinary interests within the broad remit of spatial planning, as well as advancing more established research strengths in specific fields. SPG members have a strong track record in research funding, including: ESRC, EPSRC, DCLG (ODPM), NESTA, JRF, British Academy, EIB, RTPI, and SEEDA.
The Urban Design Group is one of the largest UK providers of research expertise in urban design and conservation matters. Our research activity was assessed as being excellent in the 2008 Higher Education Funding Council for England Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). Our clients include, amongst others, UK Government/Agencies, local government, the commercial sector and a number of international agencies, governments and research councils.
Facilities
As a built environment student you'll have access to superb facilities and resources to prepare you for professional practice. From the state of the art three dimensional printer and rendering computers with specialist programmes like ArchiCAD in our Digital Studios, to the multipurpose space of the Student Hub we incorporate the newest, freshest ideas in teaching.
We aim to help you develop your full potential not only as a built environment professional but as an individual with the ability to create solutions and thrive on the challenges of rapidly changing environments. We use a wide range of teaching approaches from traditional lectures, seminars and tutorials to eLearning, studio-based teaching in our own purpose built studio, workshop based practical work, demonstrations and site visits, role-play simulations, problem-solving exercises, group projects and more.
The School of the Built Environment has two dedicated subject librarians, who can provide specific subject help and training in using the library and online databases which relate to their subject area. Training sessions are run each semester in Digimap, EndNote, and research methods.
