Applications for M.Plan Programme
Two-Year Internationally Accredited Professional Planning Masters at University College Cork, Ireland
The M.Plan course, which has an international and cross-disciplinary outlook, includes funded study visits in Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe as part of the learning process. Applications are welcome from honours graduates from a wide range of subject areas including Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Technology, Engineering, Law, Government, Science, Health, Business, Architecture and others. Further details about the application procedure for the M.Plan can be found on the UCC Postgraduate Studies website: Click Here
Careers in Planning
Professional planners work in the public, private and non-governmental sectors at national, regional and local levels and gain a broad range of abilities and skills for working in a variety of economic and social contexts. With dual professional and international accreditation, UCC's M.Plan graduates are highly valued by employers in Ireland and around the world. Graduates from the M.Plan programme have been very successful in gaining employment in a diverse range of professional planning roles and have been successful in making rapid progress as part of their career development.
Environment, Planning and Sustainability Colloquium Series: A Challenge for Interdisciplinary Understanding
On Wednesday 7th March, a joint presentation by Dr. Cara Nine [Philosophy] and Dr. Brian O Gallachoir [Energy Engineering] entitled 'Resources, Energy and Rights' marked the completion of UCC's first Colloquium Series on Environment, Planning and Sustainability organised by the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, the Environmental Research Institute, the Programme for Planning and Sustainable Development and the School of Sociology and Philosophy. This series of nine evening seminar events aimed to promote a cross-disciplinary approach within the University community in the advancement of discussion and debate on the various themes around contemporary environmental, sustainability and planning issues.
M.Plan Student Projects receive commendations at IPI National Planning Awards
Two M.Plan student projects were in receipt of special Commendations at the Irish Planning Institute's National Planning awards which were presented by Ms Jan O’Sullivan TD, Minister for Housing and Planning, Department of Environment, Community and Local Government and Mr. Brendan Allen, President, Irish Planning Institute, in the Custom House, Dublin on February 16th 2012. The commendations were made in respect of the Year 1 M.Plan Suburban Retrofitting Group project [Ballyvolane] and a Year 2 M.Plan Urban Design + Placemaking individual entry - A Masterplan for Tramore Road by Declan Clarke.
Major City Survey completed by M.Plan Students
A team of twelve M.Plan first and second year students, led by one of the programme's PhD researchers, Evelyn Sikora, recently completed an employment and land use survey commissioned by Cork City Council. This comprehensive study was conducted during Summer/Autumn 2011 and involved the recording, classification and analysis of the city's entire employment and business community, as well as a detailed questionnaire and interview based survey of each employer in the city and suburbs. The results of the survey will provide essential evidence for the City Council's ongoing development of policy for land use, planning, and economic development.
M.Plan International Study visit - London-Lille-Flanders-Brussels
M.Plan Year Two students recently completed their week-long international study visit to France in February/March 2012 as part of the PD6201: Applied Dialogues in Planning and Sustainable Development Module. Based in the Lille Metropolitan area, the trip addressed the themes of Transit, Mobility, Regeneration, Culture and Ethnicity in an international setting and also included visits to the metropolitan capital cities of London and Brussels. The study visit forms the basis for a student group project currenlty being advanced by the Second Year M.Plan class.
Conference - Heritage as an Engine of Growth in Mid-Sized Towns
Organised by the Irish Walled Towns Network/Heritage Council in conjunction with UCC's Planning school and the Department of Geography, this one-day conference "Heritage as an Engine of Economic Growth in Mid-Sized Towns" was held on January 26th 2012 in the Wood Quay Venue, Dublin City Council Offices. The conference was attended by a wide variety of academics and practitioners involved in the planning, conservation and management of Ireland's villages, towns and cities, and focussed on identifying a range of approaches aimed at developing ways to support economic development using built heritage in Ireland's smaller urban settlements.
Planning and the Community Sector
Whilst planning school graduates have traditionally tended to work in local government and other public sector agencies, their skills are increasingly in demand in private practice, in development, and in a whole range of non-governmental settings throughout the world.
Sean O'Leary a member of the 2008 foundation M.Plan graduate class at UCC is policy and communications officer with Irish Rural Link an umbrella NGO group that represents rural commuities. In April 2010 he presented a paper: 'What rural communities want from planners' to the Irish National Planning Conference.
Urban Neighbourhoods served by public transit networks
The Second Year UCC M.Plan students, under the supervison of urban design lecturer Jeremy Ward, presented their end of year projects on 26th March 2010.
Each student presented detailed masterplan proposals for the redevelopment of an edge-of-centre brownfield site to an assessment panel of experienced planning and design professionals. The project is part of module GG6205 Place, Neighbourhood and Urban Design.
UCC at the National Planning Conference 2010
The theme of this year's National Planning Conference (held on 15th and 16th April) was 'Planning for a Smarter Ireland'.
At the conference, and along with the other accredited planning schools, UCC presented a selection of graduate students' work on topics such as sustainable urban neighbourhoods, sustainable rural settlements, reflective professional practice and multidisciplinary working.
International Study Visit to Flanders 2010
Second year M.Plan students completed their two-centre study visit to Flanders in February 2010.
The trip which was based in the Lille - Roubaix connurbation and in nearby Brussels covered a range of themes such as transnational and regional identity, large scale urban re-invention, social fragmentation / integration as well as the planning and design challenges facing 21st century cities.
It is part of the module SC6201: Applied Dialogues in Planning and Sustainable Development
Planning in County Kerry
"Planning and Contemporary Change in the Iveragh Landscape", a chapter in the recent Cork University Press volume The Iveragh Peninsula - a cultural Atlas of the Ring of Kerry, presents an analysis of recent patterns of rural planning permission and development change in the area.
Wrtten by Brendan O'Sullivan of the UCC Programme in Planning and Sustainable Development, it uses original maps and images to explore the dynamic relationship between planning, landscape and heritage in one of Ireland's most spectacular areas of scenic quality.
Planning and Architecture students - joint exercises
This year for the first time, our M.Plan1 students are carrying out a joint assignment with the final year Architecture students from the UCC / CIT undergraduate degree.
Based around the idea of a new urban campus for Cork, it is an opportunity for students of the two disciplines to learn from one another while, under joint supervision, simulating the real-world dynamic environment in which contemporary practitioners have to operate.
Landscape and Planning
Using the Metropolitan Cork Green Belt as a reference point, Karen Ray, a UCC M.Plan graduate and PhD researcher attached to the Programme in Planning and Sustainable Development examines the synergies and tensions between strategic and local understandings of landscape value.
Her paper was presented to an international conference organised by the French Association of Irish Studies (SOFEIR) at Nantes University 12th-13th March 2010. The proceedings are expected to be published in the Autumn of 2010.
Irish Spatial Planning and the Cork Experience
Dr. David Counsell, visiting lecturer and formerly full time staff member of the UCC Programme in Planning and Sustainable is one of the co-authors of an important new planning text.
With a chapter on the Cork area (including the current sub-regional strategy known as CASP) and other case studies from Britain and Ireland, 'The New Spatial Planning' (Routledge, 2010) presents new insights into spatial planning, regeneration and territorial politics. The other co-authors are professors Phil Allmendinger (Cambridge) and Graham Haughton (Hull) and Dr. Geoff Vigar (Newcastle).
