What will I learn

Urban Ecological Planning (Master's Programme)

What will you learn?

Urban Ecological Planning (UEP) is a practice based program that enables students to develop skills and knowledge to address complex urban issues in rapidly changing social, cultural, political and environmental contexts. The program stresses an integrated approach to strategic spatial change, with a specific focus on participatory, inclusive and developmental planning practice.

The program is relevant to urban realities in both developed countries and the Global South. Developed countries face challenges such as aging and declining population, health hazards and exclusion of ethnic minorities. Low- and middle- income regions struggle with rapid population growth, socio-spatial inequalities, deficient infrastructure, environmental degradation and weak institutional capacity. The majority of inhabitants in Global South cities live in slums and will continue to do so in the future, if these issues remain unaddressed. There is thus an urgent need to change outdated laws and regulations and the technocratic approaches that are still prevalent in many countries around the world. We believe that urban planning should be focused on the people and that the only way to address urban challenges effectively is by working directly with the communities.

Consequently, the program focuses on the complex interdependence between people, institutions and the built environment in pursuit of equity, efficiency and sustainability. The main research themes in Urban Ecological Planning include:

Various aspects of informality in urban areas,
Access to land, housing and basic services for the urban poor,
Planning in situations of crisis, such as natural hazards and post-conflict reconstruction,
Participatory processes in planning for excluded and marginalized communities,
Institutional alternatives for planning in resource scarcity.

A sustainable approach is adopted to concentrate on building local responsibility and capacities for a strategic action planning. In the first semester, our programme starts right in the field, with a rich mix of international and local students. Students spend around 8-12 weeks in the field to understand the strengths of neighbourhood within dense cities, and evaluate possibilities for spatial, environmental and livelihood improvements. In subsequent semesters, the students undertake various other courses designed to address theoretical and practical aspects of urban planning. With on-site exercises and extensive fieldworks over the last decade, the programme has addressed various situational topical issues which are globally and locally significant.

The work undertaken by UEP students and staff is closely related to the agendas and principles of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) and other UN agencies, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA). As a member of UN-Habitat’s UNI network for academia and research (previously HPUI – Habitat Partner University Initiative), UEP has received financial and logistic support from UN-Habitat to conduct student fieldworks.

Addressing complex urban issues working directly with communities?

Read how in our bruchure!

studyprogramme-info-portlet

Learning outcome

A candidate who has completed his or her qualification should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

The candidates

Have a practice based understanding of complex urban issues and can relate these issues to key theoretical concepts in urban theory, urban planning, theories of urban poverty, livelihood and marginalisation of social and political ecology and development theory;
Have critical knowledge of the participatory and strategic modes of urban planning and development.They can reflect on their own role as urban experts, especially concerning professional and ethical positions in situations that require mediation of interests, the protection of marginalised groups or the implementation of social rights
Have adequate knowledge of current international charters, norms, goals and policies such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda, that guide urban planning and development policy and practice;
Have a decent understanding of dynamic and complex urban contexts especially in situations of uncertainty and contingency experienced due to global challenges such as natural and man-made disasters, climate change, economic crises etc.

General competencies

The candidates have:

A strong sense of social responsibility and can articulate clearly their own role as urban professionals engaging with critical societal challenges;
The capacity to facilitate decision making in conflicting situations, based on professional competence and ethical maturity;
The ability for lifelong learning in the profession and a strong motivation to apply and expand the core values of the profession
The skills for team work in transdisciplinary, intercultural and international groups and to take leadership roles in such groups;
The proficiency to communicate research outcomes to both academic and non-academic stakeholders.

Skills

The candidates have the ability to:

Apply multidisciplinary methods for participatory engagement with communities,through, for example, methods for trust building, data gathering, generation of ideas as well as co-design of strategic action;
Link theoretical concepts with empirical observations to understand urban contexts and formulate well-grounded arguments and narratives for research and collaborative design and action planning;
To independently conceptualize, structure and undertake an academic research project based on primary empirical information which is analysed and synthesized into findings, following codes of ethical practice and research;
Adequate familiarity with media and digital tools that are relevant for present-day practice;
Conceptualise, formulate, structure and evaluate projects, in multi stakeholder contexts, for urban development.

See other study programmes at NTNU

Research

Research focus in UEP:

Various aspects of informality in urban areas
Access to land, housing and basic services for the urban poor
Contingency planning and planning in crisis situations such as post disasters and conflict
Participatory processes in planning for excluded and marginalized communities
Institutional alternatives for planning in resource scarcity