Build a future in town planning

With our towns and cities expanding at breakneck speed, this is the right time to home in on a career in urban and regional planning, writes Neeraj Bagga

THE rising population and rapid expansion of cities and towns has created a need for more and more architects, sociologists, and economists with expertise in, or at least basic knowledge of, town planning.

The construction boom and constant urbanisation taking place in the country have thus opened more doors for those trained in urban and regional planning.

Sensing the future needs of the north-western region the Guru Ramdas School of Planning was set up at Amritsar in 1972 to make available qualified town planners to work in this field.

To train students in the planned management and growth of towns and cities, the school runs a graduate (B.Tech in Urban and Regional Planning) and postgraduate course (M.Tech in Urban Planning).

The prime objective is to provide professional training to the students so that they can gain expertise in dealing with the problems of both the urban and rural areas and propose realistic solutions. It is one of the only two planning schools in the country offering a bachelor’s degree in urban and regional planning.

The courses comprise both theory and practical classes, which also cover computer applications. The duration of the undergraduate course is four years and there are a total of 40 seats.

The minimum qualification for admission to the course is plus two (science stream) or its equivalent. The selection is made on the basis of merit in the Common Entrance Test (CET), which is conducted by a university in Punjab, as per the decision of the state government from time to time.

For the postgraduate course, introduced in 1997, the minimum qualification for admission is B.Tech in Planning or a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering/architecture. Besides, students who have done MA in geography, economics and sociology or their equivalent with at least 50 per cent marks in the aggregate can apply. Interested candidates have to appear in an entrance test conducted by the School of Planning and are admitted on the basis of merit in the test. There are a total of 10 seats for general students, five for sponsored and eight for GATE-qualified students.

The initial proposal of a Master’s in City and Regional Planning (MCRP) was reviewed to instead introduce specialised courses in the three fields of urban planning, rural planning and housing.

The areas covered in the courses include studio exercises — such as survey of localities, an area for redevelopment or redevelopment plan of a locality — site planning, neighbourhood and cluster planning and district centre, town study and masterplan preparations, regional study and plan preparation. Students also visit the field for collecting data from primary and secondary sources.

Since the school acts as an advisory board, it offers opportunities to its faculty members to provide consultancy services for various projects initiated by the state governments, local bodies, private enterprises, etc.

There are no campus selections as such in the school but private companies absorb students during their final year of training.

The school has so far trained about 300 town and country planners. Students training in urban and regional planning, development and management can find employment in the state town and country planning departments, housing boards, municipal corporations, improvement trusts, urban development authorities, district and rural planning offices, pollution control boards, private consultancy firms and other such organisations.