Overview

Cities and regions face pressing challenges, from urban regeneration to climate change, and shaping better solutions requires both geographical insight and practical planning skill. The BSc (Hons) Geography and Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Birmingham combines a core planning curriculum with a wide range of optional geography modules, ranked first in the Russell Group for overall student satisfaction. Students benefit from fieldwork across Birmingham and European cities including Rotterdam, gaining transferable skills in GIS, data analysis and digital techniques recognised by the Royal Town Planning Institute. The course suits students who want a genuinely flexible route into planning, combining rigorous theory with hands-on urban projects and real fieldwork experience.

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What You'll Learn

• Environmental systems, societies, space and place, and the fundamentals of planning for the built environment

• Fieldwork principles and research design for geographers and planners

• Specialist planning practice skills, including planning analysis and urban policy design

• Field research skills and dissertation preparation in your chosen subject areas

• Optional geography modules covering topics from social and political geography to environmental pollution

• Urban design and development, and regenerating urban communities

• Advanced fieldwork research, with opportunities in European centres

• Independent research, culminating in a substantial final-year dissertation

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Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to critically analyse urban and regional planning challenges, drawing on geographical theory and real-world fieldwork experience across the UK and Europe. They will be equipped to apply practical planning skills, including digital data analysis, GIS and policy design, to genuine urban development scenarios. Through independent research and a substantial dissertation, students will develop the ability to design and carry out their own investigative projects. Graduates will leave with an RTPI-accredited qualification and strong transferable skills, well suited to careers in planning, sustainability, transport and urban design across both the public and private sectors.