This course is compulsory on the MSc in Regional And Urban Planning Studies. This course is available on the MSc in Geographic Data Science. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

How to apply: Priority: MSc Regional and Urban Planning Studies (pre-requisite GY448). Priority is typically for students enrolled in Geography and Environment programmes, or joint degree programmes, however course specific availability is indicated via the 'Availability section' on the LSE course guide webpages. Guidance on how to apply to individual controlled access courses can also be found on LSE for You in the Graduate Course Selection system.

Please note: The number of students that can be accommodated is limited. If a course is over-subscribed, places will be allocated at the Department's discretion and a waiting list may be created. It is advised to have an alternative course in mind as a back-up in case you are unable to secure your first-choice course selection.

Deadline for application: Further guidance and information on course selection for Geography and Environment courses (GY4xx) will be available on the Geography and Environment Course Selection Moodle page which will go live from Monday 8 September and will be updated with course availability information daily throughout the course selection period. This page includes information on the timeline for course selection decisions in the Geography and Environment Department as well as the individual course application processes and requirements

A list of all taught master's courses in this Department are listed on LSE's course guide webpages.

For queries contact: geog.rups@lse.ac.uk

The number of students that can be accommodated is limited. If the course is over-subscribed, places will be allocated at the Department’s discretion and a waiting list may be created. For further details, please contact your relevant Programme Coordinator.

Pre-requisites:

Students must have completed GY448 before taking this course.

This course provides an intensive, practice-based exploration of how planning operates within real-world development processes. Designed as a professional masterclass, it enables students to apply conceptual and analytical insights from the Autumn Term delivered in GY447 The Economics of Regional and Urban Planning and GY448 Social and Political Aspects of Planning to live planning and development challenges in London. 

Through lectures delivered by senior practitioners across the public, private, and third sectors, students gain an understanding of the key stages of planning practice—development management, viability assessment, consultation, and delivery. Each lecture directly supports the applied consultancy project that forms the centrepiece of the course. Working in teams, students act as professional planning consultants responding to a live or archival planning brief set by a typical type of client. They assess planning policy, site context, stakeholder dynamics, and development outcomes, culminating in a professional presentation and an individual report written in client-facing language. 

10 hours of lectures and 12 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

In the Department of Geography and Environment, teaching will be delivered through a combination of classes/seminars, pre-recorded lectures, live online lectures and other supplementary interactive live activities.

Students will be expected to produce 1 presentation in the WT.

• Whitehead, C. (2025) ‘Introduction: the politics and policy of housing’, The Political Quarterly.
• Holman, N. and Mace, A. (2025) ‘Labour’s commitment to 1.5 million new homes: housing delivery as an orchestrator-intermediary challenge’, The Political Quarterly, 97(1)
• Holman, N., Mossa, A. and Pani, E. (2018) ‘Planning, value(s) and the market: an analytic for “what comes next?”’, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 50(3), pp. 608–626.
• Parker, G., Street, E. and Wargent, M. (2018) ‘The rise of the private sector in fragmentary planning in England’, Planning Theory & Practice, 19(5), pp. 734–750.
• Mace, A. (2018) ‘The metropolitan green belt, changing an institution’, Progress in Planning, 121, pp. 1–28.

Presentation (25%).

This component of assessment includes an element of group work.

Multiple choice quiz (25%).

Essay (50%, 3000 words).

A 3,000 word essay linked to a planning brief. A group presentation linked to a planning brief. Multiple choice in class exam.