URBP6003 Planning practice, law and ethics in Hong Kong [Section 2B, 2025]
Course Description
URBP6003 is a core course for all students of the MSc Urban Planning Programme (Urban and Regional Stream). It is currently linked to the Part II examination for membership admission of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners (HKIP). Its overall aim is to give students a broad and systematic understanding of professional planning practice, and planning’s legal and administrative framework.
A series of lectures will cover:
- HK’s evolution of planning
- Organization and administration of planning
- Hierarchy of plans
- Features and functions of plans
- Legal basis and procedures of plan-making
- Planning-permission application process
- Development control mechanisms
- Other various current planning issues and practices, and Hong Kong’s future planning directions.
Professional ethics and professionalism will also be discussed. With the lecturer’s guidance, students should make direct reference to the primary sources of legal and policy documents. Students should also understand the rationale behind and the interplay between different policies, political, social, economic and environmental factors, and the importance of public participation in the planning process.
Understanding the legal structure and basis of the plan-making process will also be helpful to students working on their Strategic and Community Planning Studio (URP7008) and Urban Design Studio (URBP7007), and other courses, especially with regards to implementation processes – to understand the realism of necessary procedures, processes, contents, phasing for planning in Hong Kong.
While the lectures and experience-sharing (with case studies) form the course’s core elements, students are also expected to do a group-project on a planning-permission application or public-representation, to gain more hands-on experience in planning practice in Hong Kong.