The University of Birmingham jointly with Bloemfontein University is leading a major 30-month project which aims to assess the appropriateness, usefulness and impact of the current planning curriculum in South Africa.
Chartered organisations like the South African Council for Planners (SACPLAN) in South Africa and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) in the UK are clearly positioning planning education as a way to raise the awareness of graduates and practitioners about core urban challenges.
Community welfare
This focus on teaching and training in the Global South will demonstrate the importance of planning in structuring local and regional economic development, creating more socially-inclusive outcomes, and helping to address community welfare and poverty. The proposed research also aims to reflect more widely on the implications of the South African curriculum on the UK’s planning education, given the recent increase in students from the Global South registering for planning-related courses in the UK.
Close partnership
This research is led by Dr Lauren Andres at the University of Birmingham and Dr Ruth Massey at Bloemfontein University, and runs in close partnership with the two planning accreditation bodies, SACPLAN and RTPI. The project is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF).