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University of Johannesburg (UJ)

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) is situated within the Gauteng Province. The Department of Urban and Regional Planning forms part of the School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment that is located in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment. The UJ Urban and Regional Planning Department is a member of the Committee of Heads of Planning Schools (ChoPS) and the Association of African Planning Schools (AAPS). The department successfully changed its name from ‘Town’ to ‘Urban’ in 2019 and the new name; Department of Urban and Regional Planning came into use at the beginning of 2020.

The UJ has been the only tertiary institution in the whole of Gauteng, Mpumalanga, North West, Limpopo and the Free State Provinces that trained Town and Regional Planning Technicians until the year 2019. The Town and Regional Planning Department within the UJ has therefore been the exclusive educational hub of Technicians in four major provinces and as a result provides prime stakeholders with a required level of skills that is important in industry. The National Diploma in Town and Regional Planning was first offered by the Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR). It arose in response to a request by the then Johannesburg City Council for the introduction of a course, which would lead to the formal recognition of Town Planning Assistants. For several decades the de facto situation at the City Council was that of professional university trained Town Planners aided by assistants with no formal training but which, in many cases had vast experience and were very competent at their respective tasks. At the then TWR the programme was initially offered as a part-time evening course. The students came from either the Council or Consulting firms, and all had several years of experience behind them and their level of understanding were high. Due to a change in market demand, as well as the student profiles, the programme had to be switched to a full time course catering for young grade 12 students. Later, also in response to market demand, the BTech (Baccalaureus Technologiae) was introduced. The first intake of students for the National Diploma Town and Regional Planning was in 1989 with the first Diplomats graduating in 1991. The BTech Town and Regional Planning had its first intake of students in 1996 with the first Graduates graduating in 1998. With the merger of the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) and Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR) the Department became part of UJ. The two programmes have been accredited by SACPLAN.

List of SACPLAN accredited planning qualifications that are being phased out.

  1. National Diploma: Town and Regional Planning (ND TRP) – Phasing out completely in 2023
  2. Bachelor of Technology: Town and Regional Planning (BTech TRP) – Phasing out completely in 2023

The department has developed and commenced the following postgraduate programmes;

  1. Masters : Sustainable Urban Planning and Development – commenced in 2018 (Course Work)
  2. Masters : Urban and Regional Planning – commenced in 2020 (Research Based)
  3. PhD : Urban and Regional Planning – commencing in 2020 (Research Based)

The department has also developed several short learning programmes and these include;

  1. Integrated Human settlements
  2. Geographic information systems
  3. Urban sustainability Management
  4. Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Planning and Development
  5. Sustainable Urban Development Principles and Policies
  6. Introduction to Building Information Technology (BIM 0)
  7. Building Information Technology 2 (BIM 1 – 3D Modelling)
  8. Building Information Technology 3 (BIM 2)
  9. Introduction to Geo-Spatial Information Science
  10. Land suitability analysis
  11. Smart cities and Intelligent Transport Systems
  12. Advanced Spatial Analysis
  13. Theory and Practice of Urban Planning and Development
  14. GIS Applications in Urban and Regional Planning

For Further Information Contact

Prof Trynos Gumbo (HOD) tgumbo@uj.ac.za; 011 559 6062.
Website www.uj.ac.za

Natasha Ntakana – (Secretary) natashan@uj.ac.a; 0115596062

List of SACPLAN accredited planning qualifications:

Qualification SACPLAN Registration Category Notes
National Diploma: Town and Regional Planning
(ND TRP)
Technical Planner Phased out
Bachelor of Technology: Town and Regional Planning
(BTech TRP)
Professional Planner Phased out
Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning Honours
(B URP Hons)
Professional Planner Candidate must have completed the BURP (SAQA Number 94666) that feeds into the BURP Hons (SAQA Number 108895)