Division of Information Technology, Engineering and the Environment
School of Natural and Built Environments
School of Natural and Built Environments
Working in a variety of fields, planners find effective ways of thinking through problems, of putting ideas into practice, of fostering collaborative approaches to local and regional issues which engage diverse community interests as well as other professionals and political decision-makers.
If you are interested in working out how places can be planned more sustainably, how places can be made more efficient while ensuring that different groups and individuals with diverse needs are treated fairly, how social and political conflicts can be best managed, and how to encourage people to engage in the public life of their local areas and communities then planning may be the career for you.
Urban design is about the collaborative design and management processes that influence how places work, as well as how they look, dynamic processes that guide the positive interaction between people, places and the environment. It is essential to the establishment and continuity of successful and sustainable urban places. It is often seen as the domain of architects, urban planners or landscape architects but decisions that shape the public places of cities are actually made by a far wider group of people.
The approach to urban design adopted at the University of South Australia is broad and inclusive, recognising the reality of urban design practice as a collaborative process involving interdisciplinary teams of land use:
Collaborative urban design also implies the significant involvement of local communities, with the purpose of producing public places that are responsive to community needs and aspirations.
The Masters in Urban and Regional Planning program offers a specialisation in Sustainable Urban Design.
Both the undergraduate and postgraduate programs in urban and regional planning incorporate a range of teaching techniques focussed on providing students with the best possible conditions to advance their learning. Students will undertake field trips, engage in collaborative projects, and will be taught a number of professional skills courses by highly qualified planners. A work placement program has been built into the bachelors degree which provides students with an opportunity to work alongside qualified planners for an extended period of time.
Planning offers a choice of challenging and rewarding career opportunities. Graduates from the University of South Australia have found employment in the following areas:
Diverse planning roles including:
The programs at the University of South Australia are the most long-established planning programs in Australia having produced graduates for over half a century.
As indicated above, students who complete the undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Urban and Regional Planning have fulfilled all of the educational requirements for full membership of the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) and are, as a result, entitled to practice as a planner in every state in Australia.
