AAPS is in the process of developing course outlines and toolkits, which planning schools may use free of charge to help with their curricular development processes. This initiative fits within the larger AAPS project of Revitalising Planning Education in Africa.

This project is still in process. To date the following resources are available:

AAPS POSTGRADUATE CURRICULUM FRAME

A set of guidelines for the development of postgraduate planning curricula was developed during and following the AAPS 2010 Conference held in Dar es Salaam. These guidelines are designed to be flexible enough to allow adaptation and implementation in a range of contexts. The development of the curriculum frame was informed by the background paper prepared for the same conference, also downloadable below:

• Click here to download the curriculum frame document in pdf format
• Click here to download the AAPS 2010 background paper in pdf format

PLANNING COURSE OUTLINES

An outline for a course in Planning Law has been developed by Stephen Berrisford.

Stephen is a planning law and policy consultant with extensive experience of land development processes on the African continent. Stephen holds a Masters in City and Regional Planning from the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and an MPhil (Land Economy) from the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom). He has worked in sectors including urban and rural land reform, planning law and policy, urban renewal, sustainable forest management, water resource management and biodiversity planning, in nine African countries.

• Click here to download the document in pdf format

An outline for an educational studio on solid waste management in low- and middle-income countries is also available for download. This has been developed by Libby McDonald (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, posted with permission).

• Click here to download the document in pdf format 

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT TOOLKITS

Each 'toolkit' is a set of definitions, descriptions, case studies (including best practices), course/lesson/project outlines and references designed to facilitate curriculum revision, course development and teaching of a particular educational theme.

These toolkits have been developed as open-ended, adaptable and transposable online resources. In other words:

• They constitute the base or foundation for larger processes of curriculum design and implementation, providing room for addition and expansion.
• Much like a generic blueprint, the resources are designed to be flexible enough to allow implementation in a wide variety of institutional and geographical contexts.

They also seek to provide a basis for the formulation of a planning curriculum and teaching approach that encourages:

• An interactive learning process, wherein learners can engage with and think critically about the subject matter.
• A collaborative learning process that emphasises the negotiation, networking and conflict resolution skills required by planning professionals.
• Student skills in empirical thought and reasoning.
• Increased awareness of contextual issues in planning practice through, for example, the undertaking of field visits.
• Reflexivity on the part of the learners, meaning an enhanced capacity to use new knowledge to question normative principles and theories.

To date the following thematic toolkits are available:

THEME 1: Actor Collaboration   (NEW: interactive Prezi version of this toolkit)

THEME 2: Climate Changes and African Cities

THEME 3: The Informal Economy

THEME 4: Mapping Cultural Landscapes

THEME 5 (NEW): Spatial Planning and Infrastructure

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