Planning Scenario and Policy Workshop

Subject Coordinator: Dr Patrick Cobbinah.
Tutors: Dr Eric Gaisie and Dr Riane Nunes McCormack.

A key challenge for urban planning is to develop and assess a range of possible future scenarios that can confirm, question and sometimes challenge ongoing processes and trends. This subject uses a range of publicly-available, quantitative and qualitative data, along with key policy documents, to analyse selected current processes, trends and issues in urban areas. These trends and issues are used as a basis to generate goals and assess a range of scenarios for the future management of urban processes and ongoing change. Students critically examine existing policy, alongside their assessment of key trends, as a basis for developing and justifying new policy options.

Students who have successfully completed this subject will have developed the following:

Exercise their knowledge of the main mechanisms available to planners to manage cities and regions;
Understand key urban trends in terms of fundamental quantitative and qualitative assessments;
Develop and implement a process of initial goal identification, data gathering, assessment, scenario testing and selection of appropriate mechanisms for urban management;
Use urban planning strategies and interventions to respond to contemporary issues in urban spaces;
Identify the causes of conflict in negotiation;
Identify, gather and use key data sources to develop and justify policy decisions;
Generate urban management scenarios and propose appropriate policy responses

The output presented in this exhibition is based on the third assessment task on developing a five minute-pitch of management options to addressed an identified urban issue using the process of scenario planning. This assignment involved developing specified versions of management options informed by scenarios ready for wider dissemination, and to garner public/stakeholder support from those with influence and power to implement change. Students also develop communications that convincingly convey important information to a wide audience. Through this process, students simplified, developed and presented their management options for one of the four scenario plots in a way that engaged with a wide and diverse audience, and addressed the identified urban issue. They also developed their own management options in the presentation format, using any materials that allowed them to explain the relevance of the management options in addressing their selected scenario plots in a concise but interesting manner. And finally, gave oral presentation based on the management options developed for the urban issue.