Course Title: Activity Centre Planning

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Activity Centre Planning

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
HUSO1219	City Campus	Undergraduate	330H Social Science & Planning	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2006
HUSO2208	City Campus	Postgraduate	330H Social Science & Planning	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2006

Course Coordinator: Robin Goodman

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 1884

Course Coordinator Email: robin.goodman@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Building 8, Level 10

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None

Course Description

The course will examine the issues surrounding planning for activity centres. It will focus on: the purpose of policies directing development into activity centres; various examples of such policies internationally and from Australia; governance arrangements for optimal activity centre planning; issues relating to each of the key elements of activity centres – retailing, housing, employment, community facilities and of course transport.

The course will involve four 2 hour workshops and a two day conference which will introduce students to a range of theoretical concepts and approaches as well as practical examples where such approaches might be implemented. Academic commentators and practitioners with a range of expertise will give presentations on key aspects of planning for activity centres. The course does not assume any prior knowledge of the subject and will be of interest to a broad range of students concerned with strategic planning, environmental issues and public policy generally.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Students will gain an understanding of:
the purpose of centres policies;
the strengths and weaknesses of various national and international policy examples;
current trends in retailing and their impacts on activity centres;
issues surrounding the densification of housing in activity centres;
issues surrounding economic development within activity centres;
a range of approaches to integrated structure planning for activity centres.

Overview of Learning Activities

Students will attend four two hour workshops and a two day conference. The conference will involve a range of presentations and students will be given the opportunity to interact with presenters and ask questions. Two of the workshops will be before the conference and two in the weeks following it. These workshops may involve presentation of some material but will have more emphasis on student participation and interaction.

Overview of Learning Resources

A reading pack will be available for this course. A DLS site will also be utilised for further distribution of information and sharing of knowledge.

Overview of Assessment

There will be two written assignments totalling not more than 3,500 words for undergraduate students and 4,500 for postgraduate students.