This course has two components.

• Spatial planning processes: Focusses on spatial concepts and principles of spatial planning, as well as various processes and theories of spatial change and requires the development of a local level spatial plan, including spatial analysis, spatial policies, design and implementation, issues such as land tenure, settlement layout and morphology and land use.
• Sustainable transportation and infrastructure: Introduces students to issues dealing with the impact of urban land use and form and other factors on sustainable transport, types of transport and finally transport policies and their implementation. Urban infrastructure will introduce students to the principles of bulk infrastructure provision such as potable water supply, storm water and waste water provision as well as roads and side walk It also deals with the relationship between urban form and infrastructure provision in terms of sustainable infrastructure, and costings.

This course introduces candidates to procedural and analytical techniques used in planning and involves the practical application of appropriate technologies, including Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Internet, and computer packages for data analysis and the presentation of graphics.

This course has two components.

• The concepts of sustainability and sustainable development are introduced, a critical perspective provided and the notion of the ¡°sustainable city¡± is covered.
• Environmental planning introduces candidates to ecological fundamentals, environmental ethics, the idea of environmental risk and the basics of environmental and resource

Thereafter the course deals with various forms of environmental management and planning, including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Integrated Environmental Management (IEM), and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA).

The course provides students with concepts, knowledge and tools in economic development for analysing and understanding the dynamics of local and regional economic development and engages theoretical approaches for the understanding of urban economics, local economic development and regional development.

Candidates must assimilate the dynamics of location, distribution and spatial organisation of economic activities and their implications for the configuration of urban forms and human development at local, regional and national levels.

• The theoretical component deals with different approaches to integrated planning and international precedent, planning in relation to 'developmental local government', the historical development and legal basis of the South African Integrated Development Plan (IDP), and a critical review of integrated development planning practice in South Africa.
• The practical component introduces candidates to the IDP process, the integration of planning and institutional processes, the linkage between key sectors such as transportation and land use, and economy and the environment. The project involves the preparation of a planning framework for a selected municipal area, critical engagement with the regional context, key issues and relevant development approaches will situate the project within a broader conceptual framework drawn from international and local literature.

This course introduces law and the legal system in South Africa, and focusses on key pieces of national and provincial legislation that are related to urban and regional planning. This may include legislation dealing with, spatial development, environmental management, housing, local government, and land reform.It provides an understanding of the legal system in South Africa, and those key pieces of legislation that affect planning. It includes discussion of the South African constitution and its implications for planning, national legislation around planning, provincial and local government legislation and planning as well as sectoral legislation and planning.

This course addresses the historical development of the planning profession, debates around the concept of professionalism, professional bodies, professional ethics and forms of practice (in public and private sectors).