Town and Regional Planning MPlan at University of Liverpool

The Town and Regional Planning MPlan programme is designed for those who wish to pursue a professional career in urban, regional and environmental planning in the UK or abroad. The programme is accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) providing combined spatial and specialist accreditation.

You’ll gain a rounded understanding of planning practice; learning about the forces and factors that contribute to sustainable development and the role that planning can play in mediating multiple interests. The MPlan offers two pathways with distinct specialisms in ‘Transforming Cities and Regions’ and ‘Spatial Planning for Environmental Change’. An interdisciplinary approach to study provides learning opportunities that draw upon the expertise of academics in Planning as well as academics in the departments of Geography, Sociology and Architecture.

This programme is designed as part of a suite of strongly related programmes in Planning, and core modules in Years One and Two are shared with our BA Environment and Planning, BA Urban Planning and BA Geography and Planning.

This enables students to transfer between programmes in the first two years should their interests or career aspirations change.

Programme in detail

The first year of study introduces you to the nature and extent of planning issues and the circumstances in which they arise, and provides a broad understanding of how planning powers, agencies and policies are contributing to efforts to overcome contemporary planning problems.
You are supported to acquire and enhance your oral, written and visual communication skills and engage in group-based problem solving and practical work, gaining skills that are readily transferable to the workplace. A residential field class early in the first semester enables you to begin applying your learning to a real life setting straight away.

In Year Two you begin to develop your specialism, either in ‘Transforming Cities and Regions’ through the module Cities and regions or ‘Spatial Planning for Environmental Change’ through the module Environmental sustainability. These modules introduce you to the economic, social and environmental causes of urban and regional change and the concept of environmental sustainability and its connections with patterns of human development. You also continue to develop critical thinking and communication skills to enable you to analyse material and communicate ideas effectively. Project work also enables you to develop an awareness of the methodological and spatial design issues that arise in the development of planning schemes.

The residential field class undertaken in Year Two is part of the module Rural planning field class and takes you into the field to examine environmental, social and economic issues in a rural setting.

Year Three provides you with more focused study of your specialism in order to gain greater knowledge and expertise. You are required to take four modules associated with your specialism, made up of two compulsory modules and two optional modules. You also pursue further professionally oriented core modules: Planning law and governance, Planning and property development and International planning studies. The latter includes an overseas field class, typically to a city or region in France, Belgium, the Netherlands or Germany.

Year Four focuses on contemporary professional planning practice. This year includes a major project in the module Spatial planning in action; coverage of planning theory and ethical questions in planning practice; a work placement that can be undertaken in the summer vacation between Years Three and Four; and a final dissertation investigating a planning topic of your choice.

Career prospects

Our Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) accredited programmes ensure that you are fully qualified to enter this dynamic profession on graduation.

Our programmes are varied, interdisciplinary, and have a strong vocational focus, meaning that Liverpool planning graduates enter a wide range of planning related careers in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

We have graduates who are working in the UK and across the world in what is becoming an increasingly global profession. Many of our graduates have senior positions in private practice, central and local government, and academic institutions, and 11 former Presidents of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) were graduates from the Department.

We take the employability of our graduates seriously and have taken care to build into our degree programmes the development of transferrable skills as well as making sure our graduates develop the necessary professional skills to begin their careers.

Recent employers

• Consultancy: Atkins, Arup, Indigo, Savills
• Local Authority: Islington Borough Council, Lancashire County Council
• Public bodies: Transport for London (TFL), Natural England, Environment Agency, National Parks Authorities
• Non-governmental organisations: Liverpool Vision, Council for the Protection of Rural England, RSPB
• Advocacy: Housing associations, social
  enterprise, economic development.

Career paths taken by our recent graduates:

• Planning and environmental consultants
• Strategic and local development planning
• Development management
• Transport planning
• Urban regeneration
• Economic development
• Environmental management
• Urban designers
• GIS and data science specialists
• Academic researchers
• Social housing.