Core curriculum topic: Places, planning and communities

To help you gain the skills you need to practise architecture now and in the future as a RIBA Chartered Member, we have defined 10 mandatory core curriculum topics to address through CPD.

The topic Places, planning and communities covers the legal, regulatory and policy frameworks for creating successful urban and rural places, and the relevant planning processes and procedures. The topic also includes having the knowledge and skills to create successful buildings, within the context of neighbourhoods, towns and cities.

Places, planning and communities

The legal basis of planning and governmental policy

Statutory instruments: Town and Country planning regulations Acts of Parliament

The Housing and Planning Act
The Environmental Protection Act
Infrastructure Act
Localism Act
Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act
General Permitted Development Order (GPDO)
The London Plan

Assets of Community Value

National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/national-planning-policy-framework
National Planning Policy Guidance (NPPG) S106 (Section 106) obligations
Community Infrastructure Levy
Building Control
Community Right to Build Order
Approved Documents
Fire safety strategy and legislation

Planning and placemaking processes

Understand scheme development, negotiation, consultation and approval processes (pre app, app, plan making, formal and informal engagement, committee decisions, use of conditions and legal agreements)
Understand the different people involved in such processes, their roles and how these overlap (councillors, planners, communities, non architect professionals)
Know how to make good, and responsible, use of graphical and other communication materials (such as CGI’s plans, photomontages, concept drawings)

Changing demographics, ways of living and public health issues

Designing cities and places changing and ageing populations
Designing for dementia
Designing age-friendly environments (cross-generational)
Lifetime homes and Lifetime Neighbourhoods
Co and communal housing, pocket living and other emerging housing forms
The impact of the built environment on health and well being, obesity, mental health, access to healthy food and services

Engagement with clients and communities

The needs and aspirations of communities, and space and building users

Engaging with and understanding different stakeholders and their needs
Working with neighbourhood forums and parish councils
Community consultation and co design
Creating neighbourhood plans
How Neighbourhood planning works and how to work with neighbourhood planning forums and develop neighbourhood plans space and building users
Community co design

Fairness, regeneration and community development

Understanding briefing, engagement, empowerment, cohesion and leadership and their impact on creating successful communities
The ethics of building and regeneration
The effects of regeneration on communities
Equitable and inclusive approaches to placemaking and cities
Stakeholders and their differing interests, including the agencies involved
Promoting urban social integration
Understanding place and poverty factors

Place poverty factors

Affordable, quality housing
Access to services
Availability and quality of green spaces
Access to educational opportunities
Availability of public transport
Access to jobs
Local air quality pollution
Access to shops and healthy foods
Rates of crime and anti-social behaviour

Rural planning issues

Understanding of

The changing nature of rural areas, including the main agencies involved
Reconciling competing views of what the countryside is
Approaches to rural housing provision, including the exceptions policy
Approaches to rural settlement planning
Service provision and maintaining the local community
Planning for rural transport, and approaches to recreational transport
Conflicts between agriculture and the environment
Policies for forests, woodlands, water provision and management

Environmental issues

Growth management (and managed change and decline)
Regeneration and community development
Resilient environments – places and buildings
Environmental performance – places and buildings
Protecting and enhancing valued landscapes
Minimise impact on and enhance biodiversity
Daylight, sunlight, wind effects on microclimates
Dwelling indoor daylight
Sunlight for dwellings
Sunlight for outdoor spaces
Light pollution
Wind effects around tall buildings
Street pollution flushing

Issues relating to climate change

Energy targets and parts L and P of the Building Regulations
Renewable energy generation
Energy efficiency in buildings
Embodied energy
Dwelling over-heating
Avoiding urban heat islands: very low energy buildings, electric vehicles, urban vegetation, avoiding continuous street canyons, use of vegetation canopies
Flooding and flood prevention measures: sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS), public-realm planting, streets trees, permeable surfaces
Climate change minimization, adaptation and mitigation – including green and blue infrastructure
Water management

Development and conservation

“Heritage Assets” – designated and undesignated --- and the principle of assessed harm to them.
NPPF and PPG and positive strategies for the conservation and enjoyment of the historic environment.

Issues to manage and consider

Significance, and handling significance
Establishing an evidence base
Identifying non-designated heritage assets
Impact and harm
Enabling development
Setting
Heritage statements
Heritage at risk
Conservation advice

Public spaces

The distinction between public space and publicly accessible private space
The difference between formal and informal spaces
Forms of regulation for public spaces
Planning controls to sanction new public space proposals
Highway orders, focusing on changes to the highways themselves
Listed building consents
Street trading licensing
Creating diverse, safe and inclusive public spaces
Designing for long-term maintenance
Designing public spaces that are
Delineated: clearly public or clearly private
Have designed in actives uses where appropriate
Incorporated amenities and features
Encouraging for social engagement
Balanced between traffic and pedestrians
Comfortable, safe and relaxing
Robust, adaptable and distinct

Small scale development

Assessing small schemes
Local design guidance on residential or small scale development
Siting
Context and character
Massing and building height
Facades and windows
Sunlight, daylight, privacy and outlook
Outdoor space and access
Recycling, rubbish and services
Safety and security
Car and cycle parking

Housing

Delivering a wide choice of high-quality homes for different users, for current and future needs
Self-build and custom build housing
Volume housing/large scale development and offsite construction
Understanding the allowance for windfall sites
Housing White Paper
Lifetime Homes and Lifetime Neighbourhoods
Viability and affordable housing --- including coverage of the different types of affordable housing which have differing affects on viability

Layout, density and typology

Density and methods of measuring, presenting and using density data
The density performance of differing typologies
Public transport, accessibility, supporting walking, cycling and public transport, and reducing the need to own and use cars
Parking – amounts and handling
Smart cities, planning, data and IOT
Design Review – purposes, practices etc. What to expect as someone who sits on a panel; and what to expect as someone presenting.
Mixed use building and neighbourhood solutions

Tall buildings

Height and planning policies
Suitable locations for tall buildings
The role of tall buildings in an area
The parts of a tall building and their various zones of impact (base for surrounding streets, middle for the neighbourhood, top for the skyline)
Fire safety and relevant Building Regulations
Fire management strategies
Negotiating tall building proposals
Assessing a scheme
Availability of execution
Wind and microclimate
Sun, sky, and shadow
Visual impact
Function and impact

a. Local transport
b. Amenities
c. Geographical access
d. Flow of people
e. Deliveries and maintenance

Landscape design

Principles of landscape design

Different elements of landscape from structural to individual plants or pieces of furniture
Understanding potential use of space and how this can be accommodated and managed
Using landscape to support and complement the use of buildings

Well-maintained spaces
Designs consider the long term
Designs support the proposed use of the space
Designs allow for different uses to co-exist
Elements have more than one function
Desire lines have shaped the design
Aspect and topography have been taken into account
The scheme supports biodiversity
Leftover space is managed carefully

Elements to consider

Structural planting
Pathways
Drainage
Boundary treatments
Water features
Seating
Lighting
Art and culture
Plants, trees, wildlife-friendly planting and biodiversity

Streets

Understand the modal hierarchy set by government and applicable to street design and management: pedestrian, cyclists, public transport user, private vehicle user

Streets that are designed to be

Accommodating and balancing a locally appropriate mix of movement and place-based activities
Functional and accessible for all
Safe and attractive public spaces
Reflective of urban design qualities as well as traffic management considerations

Understanding how decisions about streets are made
Understanding important design considerations

Function of the street
Degree of separation
Reflecting character
High quality materials and workmanship
Avoiding over-elaboration
Thinking of local needs
Clean, simple and straightforward
Designed for what they need to do

Understanding the language of streets

User hierarchy
Highways
Carriageways
Pavements
Junctions
Sightlines and radiuses
Traffic calming
Segregation, separation and shared space
Level surfaces
Tactile paving

Masterplanning: understanding of:

Differences between strategic (cities, regions) or project based (specific sites with definable boundaries) masterplans

Preparing for the masterplanning process

Defining who the client is and work the client has done to support the masterplan
Assembling the client team
Key drivers that have brought about the masterplan (economic, or social regeneration, environmental improvements, rebranding)
Other relevant issues (social context, environmental context, infrastructure and services, energy sources, connectivity, future needs)
The physical changes required

Managing the design process

Defining and preparing the project brief
Generating and testing detailed options
Adopting of approving a master plan
Preparing the design brief
Designing the final masterplan

Managing implementation

Implementing the masterplan and managing that implementation
Developing mechanisms to deliver quality
Preparing a design code

The attributes of safer places and Secured by Design Principles

Access and movement: places with well-defined routes, spaces and entrances that provide for convenient movement without compromising security
Structure: places that are structured so that different uses do not cause conflict
Surveillance: places where all publicly accessible spaces are overlooked
Ownership: places that promote a sense of ownership, respect, territorial responsibility and community
Physical protection: places that include necessary, well-designed security features
Activity: places where the level of human activity is appropriate to the location and creates a reduced risk of crime and a sense of safety at all times
Management and maintenance: places that are designed with management and maintenance in mind, to discourage crime in the present and the future

Find CPD on this topic

You must take two hours of CPD on this topic every year.

Find RIBA accredited CPD on Places, planning and communities through RIBA Academy.

Related courses include:

Podcasts, videos, articles, and other offers can also contribute towards your CPD requirements.