PROGRAMME SPECIFICATION
Programme title:
MSc Housing and City Planning
Final award (BSc, MA etc):
Certificate / Graduate Diploma / MSc
The programme follows the Built Environment Regulations for the
award of Certificate, Graduate Diploma and MSc. The certificate is
awarded for 60 taught credits assessed at 50% or above. The
Graduate Diploma is awarded at the completion of 120 taught credits
assessed at 50% or above. An MSc 'pass' is awarded at the
completion of 120 credits assessed at 50% or above and the 60
credit MSc Dissertation assessed at 50% or above.
(where stopping off points exist they should be
detailed here and defined later in the document)
UCAS code:
(where applicable)
Intake cohort(s) to which this
programme specification is applicable:
From 2015onwards
(e.g. from 2015 intake onwards)
Awarding institution/body:
University College London
Teaching institution:
University College London
Faculty:
Faculty of the Built Environment
Parent Department:
Bartlett School of Planning
(the department responsible for the administration of
the programme)
Web page address:
http://www.bartlett.ucl.ac.uk/planning
(if applicable)
Method of study:
Full time / modular flexible
Full-time/Part-time/Other
Length of the programme:
12 months full time or up to 60 months modular flexible
(please note any periods spent away from UCL, such
as study abroad or placements in industry)
Level on Framework for Higher
Education Qualifications (FHEQ)
(see Guidance notes)
Relevant subject benchmark statement
(SBS)
Level 7
There is no relevant post-graduate benchmark statement
(see Guidance notes)
Brief outline of the structure of the
programme / its assessment:
(see guidance notes)
MSc students must take six compulsory modules (90 credits) and
optional modules totalling 30 credits, assessed by either coursework
or exam or both, and submit a 10,000 word dissertation (60 credits).
Planning for
Housing
Planning for
Housing:
Process
(BENVGPLE)
Planning for
Housing: Project
(BENVGPLF
E
15 credits (T2)
Options
15 credits (T1)
15 credits (T2)
Economics and
Finance for
Housing Projects
(BENVGHD1)
15 credits (T1)
Management of
Housing Projects
(BENVGHD2)
Option A
Option B
15 Credits (T1 or
2)
15 Credits (T1 or
2)
Term 1
15 credits (T2)
Term 2
X
A
M
Dissertation
60 Credits
Economics
and Delivery
Low Energy
Housing Retrofit
(BENVGEEE)
Research methods workshop
Sustainability
and Design
15 credits (T1)
Sustainable
Housing Design
(BENVGEEH)
S
Term 3
Summer
For RTPI accreditation, students must take BENVGPL6 (Spatial Planning) T1 and BENVGHD3 (Critical Debates in
Housing Development) T2. Free choice of any modules from BSP permissible for RICS accreditation
Board of Examiners:
Name of Board of Examiners:
Planning Programmes
Professional body accreditation
(if applicable):
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
Date of next scheduled
accreditation visit: April
2016
Royal Town Planning Institute
March 2016
EDUCATIONAL AIMS OF THE PROGRAMME:
The aim is to provide students with a critical, interdisciplinary perspective on housing delivery, beginning with
development triggers and planning and ending with project realisation. In the middle of sits a perspective on
sustainable design at multiple levels: from the dwelling itself through to residential layout, addressing issues of newbuild and retrofit.
More specifically, the programme aims to:



Provide students with a coherent, cross-disciplinary understanding of housing development and design, and how
these processes interface with regulatory frameworks;
Provide critical insights into planning (for housing), design (and retrofit), and delivery using live case studies and
set within a clear economic framework;
Offer students a flexible programme digest - drawing contributions from across the Faculty of the Built
Environment - that allows them to 'build their own' perspective on housing from the vantage point of planning,
design or management.
All elements of the programme link theory to practice, either within modules or between linked modules. Students
will develop appropriate design, analytical and presentational skills, and work on practical cases that test their
capacity for creative thinking and problem solving. The strong research focus across the Bartlett, and links to
professional practice, feed intro this programme, ensuring engagement with live issues and - as the programme
moves forward - a continual refreshing of the subject material.
PROGRAMME OUTCOMES:
The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding,
qualities, skills and other attributes in the following areas:
A: Knowledge and understanding
Knowledge and understanding of:
1. Planning processes for housing
delivery
2. Sustainable design of new housing and
the retrofit of existing housing
3. The economics of speculative
development
4. The management of residential
development projects
5. Core knowledge in spatial planning,
urban design or project management
6. The research process
Intellectual (thinking) skills:
1. Questioning the efficacy of existing
planning, management and design
orthodoxies
2. Understanding the purpose of good
planning, project management and
design
Teaching/learning methods and strategies:
Lecture based (for the acquisition of core knowledge),
project and problem-based (for the testing and
application of core knowledge) and tutorial based (for
challenging established orthodoxies and gaining further
insight). The planning for housing stream has lectures
and a project. The other streams have lectures, tutorials
and problem-based learning. Projects are integral to
research training.
Assessment:
A mix of essays, group projects, problem-sheets,
individual projects, classroom tasks and a single,
individual dissertation worth 60 credits.
B: Skills and other attributes
Teaching/learning methods and strategies:
Engagement within lectures and tutorials and the
production of individual assignments. Co-learning with
peers through debate and discussion. Individual reading
and research culminating in the production of a
dissertation based on the collection of empirical data.
3. Understanding the personal and
societal value of good housing (with its
economic and environmental dimensions)
4. Independent thinking on a topic of
major importance - through the
dissertation.
Assessment:
Through the production of individual essays and group /
individual projects and through the production of a
research dissertation.
C: Skills and other attributes
Practical skills (able to):
1. Understand and respond to planning
frameworks and planning policy
2. Ascertain the viability of residential
development
3. Engage in effective project
management
3. Make informed design choices
4. Engage in practical problem solving
based on clearly structured research.
Teaching/learning methods and strategies:
Through 1) the design of a housing project within a live
policy setting and engagement with practitioners; 2)
through problem -solving tasks; 3) through assigned
project-management tasks and through the dissertation;
4) through design problem-solving; 5) through the
dissertation training and production
Assessment:
A mix of group projects and individual tasks and through
the production of a research dissertation.
D: Skills and other attributes
Transferable skills (able to):
1. Team working
2. Project / task management
3. Presentation skills
4. Research skills
5. Negotiation skills
Teaching/learning methods and strategies:
Through project work (1, 3 and 5), through lectures and
tasks set (2) and through research training and
dissertation writing (4).
Assessment:
Through the planning for housing project and
presentation (1, 2, 3 and 5), through housing project
management tasks (2) and through dissertation (5)
The following reference points were used in designing the programme:
 the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications:
(http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/qualifications-frameworks.pdf);
 the relevant Subject Benchmark Statements:
(http://www.qaa.ac.uk/assuring-standards-and-quality/the-quality-code/subject-benchmark-statements);
 the programme specifications for UCL degree programmes in relevant subjects (where applicable);
 UCL teaching and learning policies;
 staff research.
Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the
learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she takes
full advantage of the learning opportunities that are provided. More detailed information on the learning outcomes,
content and teaching, learning and assessment methods of each course unit/module can be found in the
departmental course handbook. The accuracy of the information contained in this document is reviewed by UCL
and may be checked by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.
Programme Organiser(s)
Professor Nick Gallent
Name(s):
Date of production
Date of review:
02 July 2014
06 October 2015
Date approved by Chair of
Departmental Teaching
Committee:
Date approved by Faculty
Teaching Committee
November 2015
November 2015