UXH432 Community Planning

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2024, Gardens Point, Internal

Overview

This unit provides opportunities for acquiring, refining and applying knowledge of and skills in community planning. The unit introduces planning techniques and urban theory applicable to communities that define successful community planning initiatives. Gaining skills to confidently apply community planning techniques in urban planning is critical for a planning practitioner whether working in public or private sector. This unit discusses principles of community planning, the relationships of community planning to community development, issues of power and participation in the planning processes, and the linkages and tensions between local and professional knowledge in planning and policymaking. The unit also helps in gaining knowledge and skills in understanding key community planning theories and concepts, and in applying methods and analysis to identify and respond to complex community issues.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Apply key community planning theories, strategies and policy frameworks to evaluate and respond to complex community issues.
2. Identify community assets, issues and conflicts from the perspective of various stakeholders.
3. Effectively communicate through visual and written communication methods.

Content

Learning Approaches

This unit employs studio-based, problem-based and collaborative learning to provide opportunities for you to advance your skills in analysis and evaluation, problem solving, collaboration and effective communication.

Your participation in the unit will include:
• Independent preparation for lectures and workshops through online learning resources
• Attendance at in person lectures to introduce key concepts and review and discuss your independent learning
• Engagement in in person studio-based workshops to allow you to practice applying community planning techniques to real world scenarios

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Weekly workshops and student presentations on draft assignment topics provide opportunities for feedback on developing knowledge and capacity.

You will receive feedback in various forms throughout the semester which may include:

1. Rubrics provided to show the expected standard for each criteria in an assessment item.
2. Comments returned to you via Canvas.
3. Lecture / consultation sessions may be available for group and individual feedback prior to assessment due dates and on completion of assessments.
4. Generic comments provided via QUT Canvas and in class.

Assessment

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Literature Review

You will conduct a critical literature review of one of the concepts discussed during the lecture and tutorial to help you understand, analyze and communicate key theories and concepts that impact community planning practice.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Assessment: Case Study

Acting as a community planner, you will investigate and report on the community assets, issues and conflicts that may be present in your selected case study.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Assessment: Project (applied)

Acting as a team of community planners working with community organizations and other stakeholders, you will produce a strategic report focusing on developing community-based capacity building strategies to achieve greater community engagement in planning activities and processes.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Risk Assessment Statement

All commencing SEF students are required to complete the Mandatory Safety Induction

There are no extraordinary risks associated with the classroom/lecture activities in this unit.

Prior to any off campus class activities that you are required to undertake in this unit, a risk assessment will be prepared and made available to you at the MAPS (Management and Assessment of Project Safety) library or on the unit Canvas site. You will receive a briefing regarding any specific hazard and risk related instructions from your field leader before commencing the activity.