University of Technology Sydney

15144 Group Project B: Greenfields Development

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Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Design, Architecture and Building: School of the Built Environment
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level:

Postgraduate

Result type: Grade and marks

There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.

Description

This subject is a group and project-based subject designed to develop students' skills in planning larger scale urban developments on greenfields sites. Students conduct an integrated assessment of existing community profile, environmental conditions, infrastructure and services, land use and density controls, transport networks, ecological characteristics, social determinants and planning policies for a project site. Approaches to, and techniques for, the planning of urban expansion on a greenfield site considering population, household and employment forecasting, constraint mapping; allocation of land use zones, transport networks, urban facilities and green infrastructure, social impact assessment, community consultation methods and development staging plans over a longer planning timeframe are taught. Students form small groups, and develop structure plans for the larger scale urban development site and master plans for a selected precinct located within the larger site and provide detail recommendations. This subject focuses on developing students' competencies to comprehend and apply distinct development considerations for the greenfields sites and to formulate sustainable and strategic planning solutions.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Develop team work skills
2. Develop effective communication strategies
3. Articulate planner’s ethical responsibility to meet the needs of current and future residents
4. Determine forecast needs and propose strategies to satisfy them
5. Critically analyse contributions of past and current plans and policy documents
6. Apply a variety of analytic and social impact assessment methods to understand site characteristics and planning requirements
7. Develop structure plans that respond to physical, environmental, economic and social constraints and opportunities and reflect metropolitan and regional planning parameters
8. Explore property market dynamics, and the environmental, economic and social implications of alternative structure plans
9. Evaluate urban and environmental contexts as the basis for strategic proposals

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject also contributes to the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:

  • Demonstrate ethical responsibilities of professional planners and critically evaluate the ethical implications of complex problems (A.2)
  • Work effectively in teams of people with diverse professional and personal backgrounds (C.1)
  • Communicate with people with a wide variety of cultural, social, economic, and political perspectives using verbal, written, and visual media (C.2)
  • Develop creative solutions to complex problems based on research and evaluation (I.1)
  • Investigate strategically the future of cities and regions and identify the drivers of change (P.1)
  • Apply a wide array of analytic tools (which may include spreadsheets, geographic information software, three-dimensional simulations, or negotiation tools) to determine constraints and opportunities (P.3)
  • Prepare and critique plans based on a broad understanding of urban and regional and environmental dynamics, and analyse alternatives (P.4)
  • Explore the principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability and apply them to analysing and developing plans (P.7)

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

The term CAPRI is used for the five Design, Architecture and Building faculty graduate attribute categories where:

C = communication and groupwork

A = attitudes and values

P = practical and professional

R = research and critique

I = innovation and creativity.

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs) are linked to these categories using codes (e.g. C-1, A-3, P-4, etc.).

Teaching and learning strategies

The subject is delivered in two main blocks, each block consisting of two full days and one full-day tutorial block. Before commencing the classes, preparatory work linked to the first block lectures and workshops must be completed to develop essential preliminary knowledge on this subject. The preparatory tasks including resources (readings and presentations) and a multiple-choice questionnaire, class lectures, project data and relevant subject resources are uploaded and can be accessed on the UTS Canvas. A field trip is organised for students to visit the project site which could be a virtual site visit depending on the restrictions on the day of the field visit. Discussions and feedback are provided to the students in the workshops or studio classes on group work. There are presentation sessions where students make group presentations of their proposals before a panel of experts from academia and/or industry or local government and receive feedback. Marks and detailed feedback for improvements are given to student groups on their draft assessments through UTS Canvas to revise further and improve their final assessments. Also, they could contact the teacher by email or phone to make appointments to discuss their proposals. It is a student's responsibility to record any feedback provided during studio sessions and meetings although feedback on assessments through UTS Canvas is provided. Marks on group work in the project are moderated by the Self and Peer Assessment Resource Kit (SPARK). Each student can provide one's feedback in the SPARK on the performance and contributions of each group member in their group while working in team environments.

The aim of this subject is to help you develop academic and professional language and communication skills to succeed at university and in the workplace. During the course of this subject, you will complete a milestone assessment task that will, in addition to assessing your subject-specific learning objectives, assess your English language proficiency.

Content (topics)

This subject has a transdisciplinary focus. The specific issues and methods required to be considered for structure planning and master planning for greenfields developments are covered through these following topics.

  • Population, employment and housing forecasting
  • Land use and transport infrastructure integration
  • Healthy and sustainable community development
  • Social planning and Social Impact Assessment (SIA)
  • Emerging urbanism concepts (e.g. food urbanism)
  • Metropolitan strategic planning context
  • Planning for rural-urban interface
  • Best practice greenfield development case studies
  • Evaluation of greenfield site's potential
  • Spatial planning concepts
  • Environmental and ecological planning considerations
  • Sustainable technologies

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Individual Assignment - Social Impact Assessment Report

Intent:

Students analyse social impact issues to be considered in planning for a greenfield development and conduct a social impact assessment for a selected case study using relevant social impact assessment methods in individual assignments.

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

2, 6 and 9

This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):

C.2, P.1 and P.3

Type: Report
Groupwork: Individual
Weight: 20%
Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Demonstrate consistent ability to apply social impact assessment methods 50 6 P.3
Relevance and appropriateness of the findings and recommendations 30 9 P.1
Effective communication using effective communication strategies 20 2 C.2
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Assessment task 2: Group Assignment - Draft Structure and Master Plan Report (50%) and Presentation (10%)

Intent:

Students in groups prepare draft reports on structure plannning and master plannning solutions for a selected project site considering multiple aspects of planning and make group presentations in the class.

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9

This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):

A.2, C.1, C.2, I.1, P.3, P.4 and P.7

Type: Report
Groupwork: Group, individually assessed
Weight: 60%
Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Evidence of research and data collection from relevant sources and applications forecasting 20 4 P.3
Demonstrate an in-depth site and planning policy analysis from metropolitan and regional planning contexts 25 5 P.4
Evidence of integration of multidisciplinary perspectives in structure planning analysis and proposal 15 7 P.7
Creativity and appropriateness of structure planning and design solutions and guidelines 20 9 I.1
Reflections of planner’s ethical responsibility throughout structure planning process and proposal 5 3 A.2
Organisation and quality of draft report and team presentation 10 2 C.2
Ability to work efficiently in a team environment 5 1 C.1
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Assessment task 3: Group Assignment - Final Structure and Master Plan Report

Intent:

Students in groups revise final reports on structure plannning and master plannning solutions for the selected project site based on feedback provided to the groups on the Assessment 2 draft reports.

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

1, 2 and 8

This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):

C.1, C.2 and I.1

Type: Report
Groupwork: Group, group assessed
Weight: 20%
Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Extent of considerations addressed in recommended changes 40 8 I.1
Organisation and quality of final report 50 2 C.2
Ability to work efficiently in a team environment 10 1 C.1
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Minimum requirements

A minimum of 80 per cent attendance of timetabled classes is compulsory for this subject.
The DAB attendance policy requires students to attend no less than 80% of formal teaching sessions (lectures and tutorials) for each class they are enrolled in to remain eligible for assessment.