Program Overview

The MSc Sustainable Planning programme for 2019/2020 consists of three courses in MSc Sustainable Planning, MSc Sustainable Planning and Environmental Management and MSc Sustainable Planning and Transport. The programme provides students with the skills and expertise they need in order to meet contemporary sustainability challenges in planning, allowing them to contribute to a much needed and fast changing professional area. 

The Royal Town Planning Institute has formally granted accreditation to the University of Hertfordshire for its Master’s degrees in Sustainable Planning.

The breadth of material covered in our MSc in Sustainable Planning gives students the skills they need in order to meet contemporary sustainability challenges in planning. Planning has a key role to play in improving the condition of life in our towns, cities and rural areas. Towns and cities themselves impact on global sustainability and can play a very influential role in tackling global environmental, social and economic problems. Equally, implementing sustainability principles within urban and rural areas is essential for the well-being of the local residents and improvement of the local environment. Creating more sustainable towns and cities will be central to the future of society and the planet. The planning system is so important because it provides one of the most sophisticated mechanisms for regulating environmental change. Recent policy changes have made planning in neighbourhoods and in communities even more important.

Increasingly planners are being required to facilitate the creation of more sustainable urban environments. This requires expertise and skills in a diverse range of disciplines and nationally there is a shortage of relevant skills. This course offers both personal opportunities for students to gain valuable skills that make them highly employable, and allows them to contribute to a much needed and fast changing professional area.

This exciting new course is specifically aimed at people wishing to gain expertise in contemporary sustainability issues. It provides graduates with excellent career opportunities in planning, environmental management, urban design, community development, regeneration, transport management, climate change mitigation and other planning related careers.

The course is Suitable for

• Students who have work experience in planning or related discipline and require a postgraduate qualification and subsequent professional accreditation to develop their career further.
• New graduates starting their career in planning with a first degree in geography, environmental science, conservation, sociology, architecture and urban studies.
• Students from other disciplines who have developed an interest in planning from voluntary work, work experience or project work.

Key Features

• A combination of stimulating academic study and strong career orientation
• Focus on the role of planning in addressing key sustainability concerns: climate change; urban sprawl; social cohesion; and demands for personal mobility
• Using the latest techniques including GIS; urban design tools and community design engagement techniques such as charettes
• Practical problem based approach to learning that uses real planning issues and case studies
• Flexibility of study based on a programme of short courses scheduled over two or three days at weekends
• UK field trips including visits to the start of town planning nearby at Letchworth and the first New Towns
• International study visit to look at European best practice in France and Germany.
• It is structured around a modular short course structure to enable flexibility whilst working. This allows part-time student to not have to take more than 12 days off a year (if studying over 2/3 years).
• Networking opportunities per module with lunch and refreshments provided within your fees.