Studies – Undergraduate Program

The learning aims and outcomes of the Department of Planning and Regional Development degree curriculum are structured along the following axes, which also represent the general objectives of the study programme:

1. A broader understanding of the ‘Human and Space’ relationship and of the overall complexity it entails.
2. A coordinated and goal-oriented engagement with the facticity of the above relationship probing its manifestations from a variety of perspectives.
3. The development of theory and practice in all areas pertaining to the above so that students obtain the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities for a comprehensive command of the subject.

The general objectives break down to the following specific goals:

(a) Development of the ability to investigate and critically analyse advanced knowledge in the fields studied and researched in the Department;

(b) Development of the ability to interpret the defining parameters applying to the phenomena of spatial analysis and design; and

(c) Devising new theoretical and methodological tools for promoting research on the economic, socio-political and environmental dimensions of spatial organisation and transformation.

In this context, it is intended that students acquire knowledge, skills and abilities as below:

1. Knowledge

• Awareness and understanding of human-made and natural environments, as of knowledge regarding aspects of spatial analysis.
• Scientific analysis and classification of the information obtained both from the broader environment of an area under study as from directly relevant or more general bibliographical sources.
• More specifically, the Department’s curriculum offers knowledge on urban and spatial planning, physical and human geography, geographical information management, human activities location, spatial development planning, natural resources management, project and programme management, et al, all crucial for understanding and dealing with spatial problems, designing and applying spatial interventions.

2. Skills

• Provision of services in the fields of analysis, design, implementation and evaluation of policies and programmes of spatial intervention involving aspects of urban and spatial planning, financial planning, consultation and decision-making processes.
• Application of the most advanced methods and tools for recording and analysing all spatial parameters, as provided by Geographical Information Systems, quantitative econometric methods and decision-making instruments.
• Methodology development in addressing research questions and elaboration of proposals to meet needs identified in situational analysis.
• Development, display and presentation, in text dissevered in thematic sections, graphs and tables, of the phases inhering a methodological project, with all the elements attesting to scientific rigour.

3. Abilities

• Perception of the performance of the human-made and natural environment with all its deficiencies and malfunctions with the aim of elaborating proposals for achieving its optimal efficiency.
• Through adherence to scientific precepts, ability to analyse and organise spatial entities from the scale of the broader region to that of building design.
• Advocacy of substantiated proposals on spatial development, urban governance and planning.