The lectures and tutorials in weeks 2, 3 and 4 introduce three key urban planning doctrines which have profoundly influenced planning knowledge and practice. Your task is to choose one planning doctrine (planning the ideal city; modern rational planning or participatory/deliberative planning) and write a 1200 word critical review of the key ideas and thinkers that have shaped the planning doctrine.  You will be asked to discuss the strengths and limitations of the doctrine.  Please submit the assignment through the Turnitin link for this task in iLearn.

The urban field project is the major assessment item for this unit. This is where you will be asked to apply planning theory to a real world context. Your task is to select a field study site in Sydney or your local area and to investigate the site from an urban planning/design perspective. This will include observing the site and documenting the space in terms of how it is used; its rules, signs and regulations; its design elements; and its cultural meanings and representations.  Your site analysis will form a case study for a 2000 word essay in which you will apply planning/urban theory to your selected site.

This assessment will be completed in three steps.  Step one will involve the selection of the site and you will be asked to develop your thinking about your assignment in a field project activity which is posted under the iLearn link for week 5.  The activity will help you to clarify your project and to receive feedback about your site selection and approach to the project from your tutor.  Step two involves the site analysis itself. This is where you will visit your site and conduct observations and it may involve visiting your site more than once. If you live in a rural or regional area, you should choose a site in your closest town or regional centre. In some cases you may be able to record your surroundings on your smart phone - though please be careful not to do this in places where you might get into trouble for it!   Step three will involve applying urban/planning theory to your site observations in the form of a 2000 word essay. In your written essay, you will need to include evidence of your reading and research on your chosen topic (in the form of in-text citations and a reference list) and evidence of your field observations (in the form of sketches, photos, and  observations) to receive a pass for the assignment.

Detailed instructions and ideas for this assignment will be made available through iLearn and discussed in the lectures. Please submit your assignment to the Turnitin link on iLearn by the due time and date.

Drawing on your research from the field project, you are asked to consider how your investigations relate to the challenges facing urban futures.  You will develop a short 5-minute presentation (in the form of a short film, poster, powerpoint or prezi - but please limit your presentation to 2-3 slides).  Off-campus students should develop a presentation for a separate online version of the conference set up for this purpose under the weekly topic heading for week 12. The focus of the presentation is on the problems and possibilities of the future city - so please do not be shy in putting your ideas about what our urban futures should look like out there!  You will be assessed on the quality of your online presentation, the communication of your ideas in an engaging format and your responses to questions from the online conference audience. On-campus students have been asked to submit their presentation 'highlights' on a separate wiki set up for the conference in iLearn.  Off-campus students must also complete this step, so do not forget to post a blog entry on the iLearn site for the conference. Your project will not be marked unless you present and submit your blog entry.  

Further details and instructions about this assessment will be posted on iLearn. To clarify this: off-campus students will participate in an online version of the conference under the topic heading for week 12 - we will set up a link for you here.  But, you must also post a blog of your presentation highlights in the iLearn wiki site for the Student Urban Futures Conference (all students in ENVG281 are required to do this).  Your must submit your blog post based on your conference to the iLearn wiki no later than 5pm on Monday November 2.

We have kept the readings for the tutorials as short and snappy as possible - a difficult task in a unit about the history and theory of planning!  Therefore we expect that you do the readings each week and come prepared for a discussion in class.  Off campus students are required to demonstrate evidence of weekly participation and attendance in tutorials - this is compulsory.  To help facilitate exciting tutorial discussions and collectively build our planning/urbanism vocabularies, you are required to sign up to lead a tutorial discussion in one week (between weeks 3-11).  To lead the discussion you will explore the topic for your selected week by introducing a planning keyword.  You will post a discussion of your keyword and how it relates to the readings for your selected week.  You may include a stimulus for the online discussion in the form of a media article or a short media clip.  You will then be required to submit your keyword to Turnitin (your definition should be no longer than 400 words, excluding references).  The keywords will be uploaded onto an urban planning glossary wiki on iLearn. The glossary will serve as resource and reference guide for all students in ENVG281.  You are encouraged to go beyond the required readings and explore other resources to help you define your keyword.  

To meet the compulsory attendance/participation requirements of ENVG281 you are expected to lead one tutorial/planning keyword discussion and you are expected to post at least one detailed response to other students' presentations each week. We will be keeping a record of the posts as we would attendance in regular tutorial classes.

You will receive a 5% participation mark for your attendance and participation in (1) the week 10 role play (5%) and (2) the Urban Futures Student Conference (in in Week 12. To receive your full participation mark for the conference, you must respond to and ask questions about other student's presentations.  You will be marked on attendance and participation.  The week 10 role play takes place in a week where your major essay is due and we have not scheduled  any readings or planning keyword presentations for this week. A special online version of the role play/planning case study scenario will be developed  off-campus students to participate in during week 10.