Message from the Course Convenor

Professor Robert Freestone

Course Convenor, UNSW Built Environment Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture

The breadth and liveliness of contemporary planning concerns are again well captured in the topics pursued by our Master of City Planning students in 2021. They range across diverse subjects: planning system reform, affordable housing, green space, transportation, community health and many more. In the process, the theme of this year’s catalogue—planning in an unpredictable world—is also amply on display. COVID-19 could scarcely be avoided, and its likely impact on issues such as employment location and regional development was hard to ignore. The pandemic certainly disrupted thesis research this year, as it did in 2020. A number of our Chinese students were forced to continue their studies offshore because they could not return to Sydney. The majority of classes continued to be held online and the COVID lockdown in Sydney from late June caused further difficulties: the closure of libraries and archives, the difficulties of carrying out fieldwork, and the dependence on remote interviews. Under these adversities, our students have done remarkably well in producing an impressive assemblage of mostly applied studies relating to Sydney, regional New South Wales, Canberra, and various Chinese cities. This is especially so given that the Planning Thesis is already one of the most challenging courses that Master of City Planning students complete as an intensive and independent ten-week investigation. In 2021, a total of thirty-one students successfully completed the course, of which about one third remained overseas for the duration.

On behalf of all the students, I extend sincere thanks to the numerous people who contributed to the Planning Thesis course this year, notably, the individual supervisors and examiners drawn mainly from colleagues from the Planning Program and City Futures Research Centre. Particular thanks go to Dr Peter Williams who convened the class in Term 1. I would also particularly like to collectively thank the many people who participated in student interviews and surveys. This is invaluable input, and our interviewees not only gave their time generously but offered, as always, vital insights that help ground the practicality of the research findings. Some students begin the Planning Thesis course with some understandable trepidation. But they finish it with a tremendous sense of achievement to match a much-enriched understanding of their self-chosen topic. The whole thesis experience, from devising a project to carrying it out and writing it up, undoubtedly enhances their expertise for the successful professional careers that now await them. That much is certain in an unpredictable environment. The challenges of 2021 have also instilled more of the personal resilience required in the years ahead.

Professor Robert Freestone, MCP Course Convenor (PLAN7149)