Undergraduate Programmes at The Bartlett School of Planning

The Bartlett School of Planning offers three internationally renowned undergraduate programmes, which have a shared core curriculum in planning.

We strongly recommend that you apply for a maximum of two programmes at The Bartlett School of Planning. Multiple applications are less likely to result in an offer of admission. We strongly advise early application, as our programmes are oversubscribed, and competition is high.

The programmes place a particular emphasis on:

understanding urban change
pro-active engagement in urban problems
urban design and/or real estate, management and planning
urban sustainability, exploring issues in social, economic and environmental fields.

The BSc Urban Planning and Real Estate examines current urban challenges with a focus on property markets, investment decisions and real estate economics

The BSc Urban Planning, Design and Management gives you the skills to work in both traditional planning careers and multiple related specialist areas.

The BSc Urban Studies allows for a broad range of courses to tailor your degree to your own interests and future career plans.

Why choose The Bartlett?

We offer:

an academic and vocational education in urbanism and the built environment
an education in planning designed and delivered by current world-leading experts and practitioners
close links with policy-makers and professionals in industry
a central London location with a wealth of urban issues and projects to draw from
distinctive programmes including lectures, project-based workshops, site visits and field trips
an international outlook and student exchange opportunities with North American, European, Asian and Australian universities leading in the field of planning

About the course

You’ll study the complexities of contemporary urbanism and urban change within the built and natural environment with a particular emphasis on:

developing a critical understanding of urban change and challenges
pro-active engagement in urban problems, through live project work in and around London
understanding key processes and debates in the fields of urban design and/or real estate, urban management and planning
interpreting ‘urban sustainability’ as a guide for future planning and policy intervention

Accreditation (please note that the BSc Urban Studies is not accredited)

Two of our courses (Urban Planning, Design and Management and Urban Planning and Real Estate) are fully accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) for the Planning and Development pathway.

These two programmes also have the option to follow a professional degree accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) if taken as part of the 3+1 professional route. This concludes with a 9-month Postgraduate Diploma or a 12-month MSc programme.

Students on one of these two accredited courses who complete this 4-year route are eligible for RTPI membership, typically after 2 years of work experience.

We offer a number of accredited MSc programmes that are eligible for this 3+1 accreditation route, including:

MSc Sustainable Urbanism
MSc Urban Design and City Planning
MSc International Real Estate and Planning
MSc Urban Regeneration

Browse the sections below for more detailed course information, or visit our programme overview pages for key facts and figures for each programme, including entry criteria and how to apply:

BSc Urban Planning and Real Estate Programme Overview

BSc Urban Planning, Design and Management Programme Overview

BSc Urban Studies Overview

Structure

Each of the BSc programmes offered by The Bartlett School of Planning share a common urban core, with three streams of modules that respectively focus on 'understanding', 'managing' and 'delivering' urban change, and which develop over the three years of study.

Understanding Urban Change

This module stream begins by placing settlements in their historical context, and examining why urban areas have developed in the way they have - in spatial and non-spatial ways, and at different scales of development. Early studies also focus on how contemporary cities are continuing to change. The fundamentals of environmental sustainability, economics, sociology, politics and development processes are then examined in depth in years two and three.

Managing Urban Change

This stream focuses on public and private processes of managing urban change, and the organisations that contribute to it, emphasising the importance of management theory and practice in contemporary professional life. A series of courses present basic management principles, and introduce the fundamentals of planning systems and explore the relationships of the different professionals working in the built environment.

In the second and third years of this work stream, students attend courses on organisational change and urban project management, with further exploration of these themes within the different programme specialisms.

Delivering Urban Change

This stream emphasises the importance of hands-on project work to give students an opportunity to put into practice the knowledge gained in the other streams through design, regeneration, development and local or strategic planning work.

BSc Urban Planning, Design and Management and BSc Urban Studies students can choose to move between the two programmes up until the beginning of their third year, opening up study and career opportunities suited to their growing knowledge and choice of focus.

Content

In each year of your degree you will take a number of individual courses (modules), normally valued at 15 credits, adding up to a total of 120 credits for the year. Modules are assessed in the academic year in which they are taken. The balance of compulsory and optional modules varies from programme to programme and year to year. A 15 credit module is considered equivalent to 7.5 credits in the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). More detailed information on each individual modules can be found in UCL's module catalogue. Scroll down for a diagrammatic representation of the programmes.

Year One

Compulsory year one modules for all undergraduates:

Introducing Planning Systems
Planning History and Thought
Urban Lab I: Graphic Skills
Making Cities: Production of the Built Environment
Contemporary Cities
Introducing Urban Design: Design Skills
Management for Built Environment Professionals I

Compulsory year one specialism for Urban Planning, Design and Management and Urban Studies students:

Beyond Cities: Rural Economies, Communities and Landscapes

Compulsory year one specialism for Urban Planning and Real Estate students:

Introduction to Real Estate

Year Two

Compulsory year two modules for Urban Planning and Real Estate and Urban Planning, Design and Management students. Urban Studies students can exchange modules marked with an * for an elective of their choice (unmarked modules are therefore compulsory). Urban Studies students can take up to 45 credits of electives in year two.

Urban Lab II: Spatial Analysis
Urban Design: Theory to Practice *
Cities and Social Change
Economics of Cities and their Regions
Green Futures
Strategic Planning Project
Management for Built Environment Professionals II *

Compulsory year two specialism for Urban Planning, Design and Management students:

Urban Form and Formation

Compulsory year two specialism for Urban Planning and Real Estate students:

Real Estate Economics

Year Three

Compulsory year three modules for Urban Planning and Real Estate and Urban Planning, Design and Management students. Urban Studies students can exchange modules marked with an * for an elective of their choice (unmarked modules are therefore compulsory). Urban Studies students can take up to 60 credits of electives in year three.

Urban Project Management *
Regional Development, Planning and Policy in a Global Context
Real Estate Development
Urban and Environmental Politics
Planning and Property Law *

Compulsory year three specialisms for Urban Planning, Design and Management students:

Development Project: Regeneration
Urban Design: Space and Place
Transport Policy and Planning (this module is also compulsory for Urban Studies students)

Compulsory year three specialisms for Urban Planning and Real Estate students:

Real Estate Valuation
Real Estate Investment and Finance
Real Estate Management

Staff

Programme Director (Urban Planning, Design and Management & Urban Studies)

Elena Besussi
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Programme Director (Urban Planning and Real Estate)

Danielle Sanderson
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Send Danielle an email

Programme Administrator

Miss Eliza Fleming
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Contact Undergraduate Admissions for any enquiries about applications.

Careers and Employability

Recent records indicate that a third of those completing the 3+1 route take up employment in UK local planning authorities. A further third of graduates enter consultancy work, while the remainder take up employment in a wide range of retail, utility, transport and development companies or in non-profit agencies. A minority continue in higher degree studies and research.

Some students take a year out to gain experience in professional practice between their BSc graduation and MSc/Diploma year. Others gain valuable professional practice experience during their summer breaks, for which study in London provides unrivalled opportunities.

Careers

Our programmes enable you to acquire highly transferable knowledge and skills such as data collection and analysis; resolution of problems and conflicts; negotiation and mediation; presenting complex data and ideas; managing work tasks; preparing and writing professional reports; and preparing and using graphics for effective presentations.

Our graduates are equipped to take up employment in a vast range of positions - both within planning and property, and in other sectors where their analytical, negotiating and problem-solving skills are valued. Demand for people with planning skills and the real estate sector in the UK and abroad is strong. A rapidly growing field of work is 'urban regeneration', where people from many professions, sectors and organisations collaborate on urban and regional projects.

Graduates work in a variety of fields specialising in economic development, regeneration, social development, housing, travel, public space improvements and community participation. Due to the nature of two of our BSc programmes as a route for eligible membership of RTPI, many of our graduates also go on to further study.

Destinations

First career destinations of recent graduates (2012-2014*) of our programmes include:

Graduate Chartered Surveyor, Savills
Graduate Surveyor, DTZ
Graduate Town Planner, Peter Brett Associates
Graduate Planner, Southwark Council
Graduate Engineer, WSP Group
Graduate Surveyor, Bennett Homes
Real Estate property Valuer, Adventis Real Estate management (Serbia)

*Data taken from the 'Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education' survey undertaken by HESA. Please note that the first Planning and Real Estate cohort graduated in 2015 so this data is mostly based on our other programmes.

UCL is committed to helping you get the best start after graduation. Read more about how UCL Careers support services are helping our students boost their employability and find jobs.

Work Shadow Programme

Students have the opportunity to undertake a work shadow placement with a major planning employer in term 3 of their third year.

The work shadow programme aims to give students a chance to experience what it is like to work in a sector of the industry that employs people with planning degrees. Students participating in the programme undertake a two-week placement with one of a number of key employers - including both private companies and London boroughs - from across the planning sector.

The two-week work shadow experience is book-ended by two half-day workshops at UCL jointly run by the school's Careers Coordinator and a consultant from the UCL Careers Service. The first workshop covers: transferable skills to the workplace from students' previous experiences; professional and workplace etiquette; and goal setting. The second workshop shares the diverse work shadow experiences from the student cohort, opportunities that arose, and reflections on the next steps of career development.

Employers participating in the 2019 Bartlett School of Planning work shadow programme:

planning design management