Durham University, by J. S. Allen, Professor of Town and Country Planning in the University of Durham

The Department of Town and Country Planning is in King’s College, Newcastle upon Tyne. For those not familiar with the constitution of the University, it may be explained that it is a federal University, one division - the Durham Colleges- occupying the Castle and other buildings which surround the Palace Green in the mediaeval cathedral city of Durham, the other division - King’s College - being situated in the modern industrial city of Newcastle upon Tyne which occupies the site of a Roman settlement on Hadrian’s Wall. The Department is housed in buildings which border the Town Moor, a large open area of grassland lying within a stone’s throw of the city centre.
The University is in an area of considerable interest from the point of view of the planning student. Newcastle is the regional capital of Tyneside, famous for its ship-building and allied industries, and the Durham and Northumberland coal field is the largest in England. As the centre of a Development Area, Tyneside offers opportunities for studying the distribution of industry and population. The Team Valley and other trading estates are within the Tyneside conurbation, and Newton Aycliffe and Peterlee - two towns in course of erection under the provisions of the New Towns Act, 1946 - are within easy reach. Moreover, since the surrounding country lies in an agricultural region of great diversity, it offers for study a wide range of problems in rural planning. The area includes large and small farms of many types, the largest afforestation scheme in England, the Northumberland Coast with its nature preserves and the Lake District National Park. Thus, within this region of England and on the borders of Scotland is an area in which there is a dramatic contrast between the high population density of an industrial conurbation and a sparsely populated county. Furthermore, as already indicated, the area is of unusual interest from the historical point of view. It includes within its boundaries not only the superbly sited Durham Castle and Cathedral and Hadrian’s Wall, but other historical monuments such as Roman Corstopitum and many survivals of mediaeval Border England such as are to be found in small market towns like Morpeth and Alnwick, to mention only two, and the burghs of Jedburgh and Kelso on the Scottish Border. So much for the setting of the school.
Courses of training in Town Planning were first instituted in 1933 in King’s College Department of Architecture, and the Certificate and Diploma Courses then begun are still conducted by the Department of Town and Country Planning which was set up in 1945. But with the rapid development of the concept and practice of town and country planning during the war years, it was felt that the time had come when the methods of training should be reviewed. Planning at the regional and county level called for a wider training than had been necessary when the technical staff of a planning authority was concerned mainly with engineering and architectural control of comparatively small administrative areas. Until this change came about it had seemed to be adequate for the physical planner to be conversant with the engineering, surveying and architectural aspects of the subject, combining this with a knowledge of the Town Planning Acts and relevant legislation. Where wider issues were involved they had too often been concerned only with the negative issues of preservation of amenity. It was seen that the earlier methods of training had many disadvantages. In particular the inadequate time for study which the post-graduate student could give and the fact that he approached his studies of the new subject with preconceived ideas of the importance of his own speciality were very great dangers in a professional activity of such wide application and such deep significance. An undergraduate course was therefore proposed which could deal adequately with the larger field of planning on the regional and county levels.

The Degree Course
As a consequence the University decided to establish an undergraduate course comparable to the other professional courses. The new course, like that of Architecture, extends over a period of five years full-time residence and candidates are required to matriculate but need not hold any professional qualification. The syllabus has been devised to give a broad and general education m planning as understood today, and, whilst it leads ultimately to very full technological training, this training forms a part only of the general education of the student. Thus, in the early years the student studies Human Geography, Geology and the History of Town and Country Planning. History, as now taught, is, in fact, the History of Environment and is very far removed from the earlier kind of teaching which dealt, perhaps too exclusively, with the physical form of town plans. The syllabus of study for Geography extends over two years and is taken at the same time as the History of Architecture, the History of Landscape and Garden Planning, and the Principles of Architectural Composition. Lectures m Agriculture and Country Planning link the studies in Human Geography with a broad approach to Landscape Design. Not until the third year does the student undertake the study of the Theory and Practice of Planning and the Principles of Civic and Landscape Design. In that year also Public Works Engineering (extending over two years) and Public Administration are studied and are followed in the fourth year by lectures m Town Planning Law, Statutory Planning Practice and Outlines of Economic Organisation.
It should be explained, however, that lecture subjects are closely related to field and studio work throughout, and the character of the course can only be fully appreciated by reference to this practical work. In other words, there is a happy combination of the theoretical and background studies with the creative work of the planner, and from the outset the student is encouraged to think in terms of “design.” In the first year practical exercises in Cartography and the technique of presentation of plans and other drawings including constructional drawings is demonstrated. The student is also trained in planning survey methods and is set simple practical planning problems. In the second year the practical work embraces further exercises in survey technique, the presentation of survey data of all types, and small scale planning problems. The emphasis in the third year is on regional planning together with more advanced site planning as exemplified by central area redevelopment schemes and neighbourhood planning. The major work of the fourth year is concerned with exercises in statutory planning, covering surveying and planning technique in accordance with the circulars and regulations of the Ministry of Town and Country Planning.

Practical Experience
It is worthy of note that during the latter part of the five years of attendance the student must be employed for a period during vacations in planning work with an outside authority or consultant, and in this way he learns something of office practice and deals with practising planners and their clients outside the University. But, as indicated above, this office training is by no means the only contact which the student has with the outside world during his five years of residence in the University. In fact, practically all programmes and field work throughout the course involve close contact with planning consultants and officers and Ministry officials both within and without the region. When suitable opportunity offers, groups of students work on problems put forward by the planning officer. This method has an advantage over the old type of pupilage in that the subjects chosen for study are part of a carefully prepared and worked out programme of study and not haphazard experience gained accidentally in general practice. The co-operation between the planning officers and the school has been a most happy one and its value cannot be overestimated. The length of the course not only makes possible a series of planning programmes, some covering perhaps a year and integrated as a comprehensive study of one area and one major scheme, but allows time for full co-operation with other departments of the University. This close contact with other departments was not feasible in the older short post-graduate courses.
But the final test of the value of the new degree course is the thesis prepared during the fifth year and the creative work of planning based upon it in which the student selects his own subject which must, of course, relate to at least one aspect of Town and Country Planning. This emphasis on the creative ability of the student is the keynote to the course.
The first five years of the new degree course have this year been completed and there is every reason to feel that the experiment has proved a success. The ability of the Planning student to take a not unimportant part in University student activities and the maturity of outlook of the senior students is clear evidence that the new course is no mere collection of a wide range of subjects which the student is unable to correlate, but a new method of providing education of University standard suitable for a candidate for this new profession. The course will doubtless be adjusted in the light of experience and as time goes on may change its character a little, but the value of the undergraduate training of the planner is, I think, fully established as meeting a particular need in the planning field today. Certainly, the unique value of a full-time course which keeps the student in contact with the studies being pursued by students in other departments, whilst at the same time providing a discipline of its own, cannot be overestimated.

Post-Graduate Training
On the other hand it is becoming more and more necessary for the architect, engineer and surveyor, the geographer, the sociologist, the economist and the legal adviser to be conversant with the new kind of planning, for the scope of planning and its implications affect a wide range of professional and expert interests. Indeed, there are few professions which are not concerned directly or indirectly with present day planning and evidence of this is given by the request for lecture courses to engineering, medical and arts students. Thus there are two kinds of demand on the contemporary university and its planning school. The one, to give the planner a broad and liberal education parallel to undergraduate training for other professions, and to enable him to appreciate the contribution which can be made by other professions; the other, to assist other professions to carry out their part in planning and to appreciate the work of the planner and the planning team. The ideal way to do this is surely to provide a common preliminary training followed by specialisation for all the professionals concerned, and it may be that eventually such a common training may become a reality in this country .But, at the present time, for several reasons, it is not possible to do this. To meet the problem then, the planning schools must make a decision either (a) to continue the post-graduate method of recruiting all planners from the various specialist professions or (b) to undertake the logical training of the planner through an undergraduate course, giving him a wide general training in all aspects of the subject, yet at the same time continue to provide (in the transitional period) for the qualified architect, engineer, etc., by maintaining the older type of post-graduate course, modified, so far as practicable, to meet present day needs.
At Newcastle the second alternative has been adopted. Although the greater part of the work of the department is concerned with the undergraduate course, the library, lectures and programmes being designed for this purpose a strong post-graduate school also exists to which students from many countries are attracted, the teaching in the Certificate and Diploma Courses being considerably strengthened by the experience gained by the staff in conducting the five year Degree Course. This post-graduate section of the school has indeed been strengthened by the inauguration this year of a Diploma Course in Landscape Design, this being a field in which the Planner may justifiably specialise. There are many advantages in the arrangement and there is no real conflict between the courses. The advantages include a happy interchange of ideas between undergraduate and graduate, each bringing to a common meeting ground his or her experience and reactions to planning and landscape problems, and a particularly valuable forum for this interchange of ideas is provided by the very active King’s College Planning Society created by the undergraduates themselves. The importance of research in a University department, concerned with so wide a range of study as the subject of planning implies, cannot be over-estimated. For this reason it seemed that there should be a medium for publishing research and in 1948 “Planning Outlook” was launched as the Journal of the Department.

Full-time-and Part-time Courses
The position today is that the Department of Town and Country Planning at King’s College conducts three courses in Planning - viz. (a) The Certificate Course, (b) The Diploma Course, and (c) The Degree Course. The Certificate Course extends over two sessions part-time or one session full-time and candidates for the Diploma Course are required to hold this Certificate or a recognised equivalent. It is intended for candidates who have already passed the intermediate examination of the Town Planning Institute or have reached a prescribed stage in qualifying for the professions of Engineering, Architecture or. Surveying. A part-time training is thus provided for candidates who are already in practice or who are members of one of the associated professions and who cannot undertake full-time training. Together with the Diploma Course it is at present under review but it can be said that the Certificate Course has served a valuable purpose in providing a planning background not only for Diploma Course candidates but for members of the associated professions who do not wish to engage in planning as a separate profession. It has proved of interest not only to engineers, architects and surveyors but to geographers, valuers and members of the legal profession. The Diploma Course extends over one year full-time and, like the Degree Course, is recognised for exemption from the final examination leading to associate membership of the Town Planning Institute. The programme of lectures and studio work originally prescribed in this course is now too limited for present day requirements and the regulations will require to be adjusted. Indeed, Diploma students have in recent years carried out work and undertaken studies beyond those required by a strict interpretation of University regulations, and it may here be appropriate to stress an important point often overlooked with regard to university training. Although the official curriculum is intended as a guide to the minimum requirements for a given award, be it a Certificate, Diploma, Degree or Honours Degree, students in the University may attend lectures in subjects other than those laid down in the regulations, provided there is suitable accommodation. In practice, therefore, a Diploma student now attends lectures covering a range of subjects not officially listed. He may attend one or more of the following courses: Philosophy, Economics, Agriculture, Human Geography, Anthropology, Sociology and Landscape Design.
It may appear from the above that at the present time the Department is a complex organisation, conducting four different courses. In practice, however, the organisation is quite simple and there is a close connection between all the courses. What has evolved, in fact, during the last five years, is a centre for planning studies in which a place is found for all sincere students of planning.
In view of the present day scope of planning, this may prove to be the most significant of all developments in our universities - an increasing appreciation of the function of the university as a centre for interchange of ideas and for the encouragement of research.
 
 
 
 
  

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