Master of Urban Planning (MC-URPL) // Attributes, outcomes and skills

Intended learning outcomes

The Master of Urban Planning degree provides professional training in urban planning. The program recognises the importance of interdisciplinary learning and, in addition to a wide array of electives, includes interdisciplinary studio options. The program also recognises the importance of being able to carry out and communicate research on planning policy and practice, including a compulsory analytical methods subject and a minor research thesis.

The MUP will:

• Equip students so that they are sought-after practitioners and researchers of urban planning in Australia and internationally;
• Provide students with a choice of electives to enable them to develop their intellectual and career interests;
• Encourage an environment in which theoretical and applied planning knowledge is developed;
• Recognise and build upon the range of prior skills and knowledge students bring to the program;
• Engage students with key contemporary planning ideals, ethics and debates, including debates surrounding the creation of equitable and sustainable human settlements; and,
• Provide research opportunities allowing students to undertake supervised and self-directed learning.

Generic skills

The Master of Urban Planning degree prepares students to step up as leaders, to address the world’s urban problems and to maximise opportunities, now and in the future. We do this through a pedagogical mix of lectures, debate, discussion, seminars and student presentations, local and travelling studios, and independent research. Students are encouraged to attend and contribute to conferences and seminars in order to increase their knowledge of planning issues, grow their professional networks and to share their findings with the scholarly community.

Students are taught to:

• Understand theory and think in a critical and reflective manner;
• Develop core planning knowledge and skills;
• Respond creatively to the issues they confront;
• Understand and manage the complexity inherent in planning problems;
• Understand cities in an international comparative context;
• Develop research skills;
• Develop areas of specialisation; and,
• Work in multi-disciplinary teams.

Graduate attributes