Theories of Regional Planning
Code: 104243 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2503710 Geography, Environmental Management and Spatial Planning | OB | 2 | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Maria Buhigas San Jose
- Email:
- Maria.Buhigas@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- Yes
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
External teachers
- Maria Buhigas Sanjosé
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites
Objectives and Contextualisation
Any human activity takes place in a physical space. This statement may seem obvious and yet we tend not to fully understand its implications. The United Nations has long recognized that the 21st century is and will be the century of cities, of urban environments where more than half of the world's population will meet. Urban environments in which one in four people lives in informal conditions, that is, in spaces that have not undergone an urbanization process (supply of basic services, such as water or energy, public facilities of education and health, access by safe, accessible and walkable streets, etc.). Urban environments that are currently responsible for 70% of CO2 emissions on a planetary scale. Urban environments that are the main focus of the challenges we have to face in the near future, and at the same time its main lever for change. Urban environments whose impact goes far beyond the recognized urban footprint.
Planning is an exercise in ordering all the elements that make up a territory. Planning that must be understood as an expression of the will of a society to organize itself in the territory it inhabits: identifying the areas to be protected or preserved for environmental, cultural, identity or economic reasons; pointing out the areas where the urban settlements meet and establishing the rules and conditions that define them; accommodating the roads, corridors and channels through which exchange flows of all kinds must occur within the system.
All these issues are the object of physical and normative planning that is specified in three modalities: regional, urban and sectoral planning.
The objectives of this course are aimed at understanding the three ways of intervening on the territory and that are specific to any exercise in spatial planning:
• Legislate - Introduce the main concepts, tools and content of spatial planning for both modalities: regional and urban (city).
• Plan - Deconstruct and analyze the process of formulation of regional and urban planning and how and by whom the decisions are taken.
• Deploy (implementation) – Understand the processes of approval and implementation of regional and urban planning in Catalonia mainly and in other European and Latin American realities, in general.
In short, this course is about understanding the reasoning for regional and urban planning, to become familiar with the basic concepts and elements that make them up and the instruments or technical tools used to shape and specify them. Delve into the implications of an apparently trivial statement that any human activity takes place in a physical space and, finally, contribute to build up criteria to the personal and individual position that we all have of what happens and affects our most immediate physical environment.
This knowledge will be achieved through theoretical classes, the preparation by the students of presentations related to current issues and topics (global agendas (SDG and Urban Agenda, deployment of the energy transition, new interventions in public space, etc.), and with a work on a practical case of planning process in a particular municipality.
Competences
- Critically analyse the relationship between society and the region applying the conceptual and theoretical framework of geography.
- Integrate the different social and environmental disciplines with a view to describing and interpreting the spatial dynamics linked to social, economic and environmental change.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Differentiate between different urban and regional planning proposals drawn up in different disciplines.
- Identify the main theoretical concepts of regional studies.
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
Content
The subject’s course will be taught according to the following agenda:
Block 1: Planning in Theory.
- Current context for planning: objectives, criteria, challenges and debates.
- Modalities of spatial planning:
- Regional planning: concepts, elements, criteria and instruments.
- Urban planning: concepts, elements, criteria and instruments.
- New approaches and debates: on decision-making processes (participation) and on instruments and tools.
Block 2: Planning in practice.
- From planning towards implementation (management).
- Case study:
- Implementation of the plan (constraints and uncertainties).
- Monitoring and evaluation.
Methodology
The course aims to approach and to show simultaneously the two dimensions embedded in planning: the theoretical and the practical. To make this double look possible there would be two kinds of sessions:
- theoretical sessions, accompanied by readings that the student must prepare in advance to comment in class. This part will allow introducing a common and shared base knowledge for the whole group, a basic bibliography of reference and the state of the art of the most current debates.
- workshop sessions, based on the study of specific cases which will be announced and distributed at the beginning of the course). These cases will be presented in class by the teacher and the students - by groups of 3 – along the course to monitor and build up the final report.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Debates | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 2 |
| Oral exposition by the students (study cases) | 12 | 0.48 | 1, 2 |
| Theoretical sessions | 30 | 1.2 | 1, 2 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorial | 4 | 0.16 | 2 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Readings and personal work | 21 | 0.84 | 2 |
| Teamwork (study cases) | 60 | 2.4 | 1, 2 |
Assessment
The course’s final grade will essentially be based on the following three components:
• Written individual work documents that represent 50% of the final grade.
Maximum 4 writing exercises would be proposed along the course (a summary of reading articles, a short essay regarding an ongoing debate or an issue raised in class, a small intervention on a specific concept discussed in class, etc.). Written quality, ability to concretise and synthesize arguments and argumentation capacity will be valued.
• Group case study work that represents 40% of the final grade.
At the beginning of the course, a case study would be proposed for each group (groups of 3 students) and an outline of the contents that will be developed and worked throughout the whole period. The presentations in class of the different parts of the research paper and the partial deliveries will build the final grade. All group members must demonstrate equal work and commitment towards the teamwork. The quality and rigor of the contents will be valued as well as the quality of the presentation, the language used and the graphics.
• Attendance and active participation in class that represents 10% of the final grade.
Have participated regularly in the debates and activities proposed in the classes.
Qualification’s requirements:
a) Having passed written individual work documents with a minimum average grade of 5.
b) Have submitted the case study work with a minimum grade of 5.
Both previous grades will not average between them to pass the subject. Therefore, you must have a minimum grade of5 in both jobs (individual documents and case work in groups).
c) Have participated regularly in the classes.
Grade’s review:
a) The examsand works to review the final grade would be indicated in due time.
b) To qualify for review, you must have participated in the evaluation tests and delivered the materials of the practices in the manner that will be indicated in due time.
c) The maximum grade that can be obtained in the review process is 5.
Not eligible students:
In case a student does not submit at least one individual essay or the case study work.
Plagiarism
The copying or plagiarism of material, both in the case of works and in the case of exams, constitute a crime that will be sanctioned with a zero to the activity. In the case of recidivism, the entire subject will be suspended.
Let's remember that a "copy" is considered a work that reproduces all or most of the work of one or the other company / a. "Plagiarism" is the fact of presenting all or part of a text of an author as its own, without mentioning the sources, be on paper or in digital format. See UAB documentation on "plagiarism" at:
http://wuster.uab.es/web_argumenta_obert/unit_20/sot_2_01.html.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attendance and active participation in class | 10% | 10 | 0.4 | 1, 2, 3 |
| Group case study work | 40% | 4 | 0.16 | 3 |
| Presentations and written individual work documents | 50% | 5 | 0.2 | 1, 2, 3 |
Bibliography
Romà Pujadas, Jaume Font; “Ordenación y planificación territorial”. Editorial Síntesis.
Manuel Benabent Fernández; “Introducción a la teoria de la planificación territorial”. Secretariado de Publicaciones. Universidad de Sevilla.
Juli Esteban Noguera; “Elementos de Ordenación Urbana”. Edicions UPC. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.
Peter Hall; “Urban and Regional Planning”. Routledge.
Patsy Healey; “Collaborative Planning: shaping places in Fragmented societies”. Palgrave-MacMillan.
Scott Campell, Susan Fainstein (ed.); “Planning Theory”. Blackwell Publishers.
Manuel de Solà-Morales; "Las formas de crecimiento urbano". Laboratori d'Urbanisme. Edicions UPC.
Oriol Clos (ed); "Manuel de Solà-Morales. Miradas sobre la ciudad". Editorial Acantilado.
Articles and complementary readings for the class debates will be proposed at the beginning of the course.
Software
No specific programari is described beyond the objectives, content and methodology described.