Cities: From Local to Global

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2012:

120 hours

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requiremens. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject was formerly called Contemporary Planning Issues.

Why do governments plan for cities and regions? What kinds of issues are they responding to? Why do planning decisions get some people so angry?

This subject will move from the very local scale (planning issues on my street), to the metropolitan (planning issues in my city-region) and international (planning issues in a global context) scales, in order to examine central issues and processes affecting planning systems in Australia and around the world. The subject is designed to provide an introductory understanding of current social, economic, environmental, and cultural concerns and their relation to planning issues.

You will be assessed on your ability to:

• communicate your informed opinions on contemporary planning issues and principles in Victoria and internationally, trends on these issues, and reasons for these trends;
• analyse and evaluate current planning debates and related arguments on these issues and the reasons for trends and projections, and the various value positions, in relation to theorie;
• develop solutions to identified problem;
• develop research and writing skills through independent research.

• 1000 word environmental autobiography, due in week 4 (20%)
• 1000 word report on field trips, due week 9 (20%)
• 1000 word report on how can the lessons from an international planning success story be applied to Melbourne, due week 12 (20%)
• Tutorial and class participation (20%)
• Four 250 word tutorial papers/posters due in tutorials in weeks 3, 5, 7 and 10 (5% each)

Course reader

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

Upon successful completion of this subject you will have had the opportunity to develop the following skills:

• high level written and oral communication skills;
• familiarity with key planning issues;
• problem solving skills;
• research and analysis skills.