Course overview
This course will provide students with critical understanding of planning and development issues and contemporary planning practice in developing countries, with particular reference to Asia and the Asia-Pacific Region. Issues in cross-cultural comparative studies; problems of the transferability of ideas. Urban growth and change in developing countries. Comparative studies of planning policy and practice. Human settlements, housing and transport issues. Environmental sustainability under conditions of rapid growth. Employment, poverty and the informal sector. Discourses of sustainability and development in the 'Third World'. Case studies of selected Asian cities and regions.
Course learning outcomes
- Assess current trends in urban growth in the countries of Asia and Asia-Pacific region and explain the principal causes and consequences of rapid urbanisation
- Show an awareness of the problems facing rapidly-urbanising societies in providing adequate housing, employment, infrastructure and environmental quality
- Investigate the role of cultural and institutional issues in comparing urban and regional development and planning practice in different countries
- Give a coherent account of the principal ethical, professional, economic and cultural issues which arise in foreign aid projects in the field of urban and regional planning
- Critically evaluate alternative meanings of 'development' and 'sustainability' in the literature relating to cities and regions in developing countries