Overview

The MSc Mega Infrastructure Planning, Appraisal and Delivery is a one-year full-time or two- to five-year modular/flexible programme. It aims to provide a critical review of mega infrastructure theory and international practice and an assessment of how 'fit for purpose' these are for the 21st-century challenges of sustainable development.

While the programme seeks to focus on generic lessons and principles that apply across the different sectors, it also covers the many sectoral and context-specific considerations that can play a major role in determining the success of such investments.

Programme objectives

The MSc Mega Infrastructure Planning, Appraisal and Delivery is inter-disciplinary and international, drawing from experiences both in the developed and developing world. It seeks to provide students with insights, knowledge and skills that will assist them to better plan, appraise and deliver future mega infrastructure developments in a manner that is sensitive to the risks, uncertainties and complexities of different contexts.

The programme has been devised to provide enhanced capacity-building opportunities for those currently working in the field of mega infrastructure development and to offer an invaluable grounded qualification for new entrants into the field.

Accreditation

The course is accredited by the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) as a 'specialist' fourth year for graduate students who have successfully completed an RTPI-accredited three-year undergraduate course.

Accreditation by the Joint Board of Moderators (JBM) is expected to be confirmed shortly, as a result of the course meeting the further learning requirements for students who have completed undergraduate studies in an approved civil engineering school. This will enable civil engineering graduates to satisfy the academic requirements for Chartered Engineer status and corporate membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

Accreditation by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) for students is being progressed.

Contact

Programme Director: Professor Harry Dimitriou

Structure

The diagram below shows the structure of the one-year full-time MSc programme. If the programme is taken flexibly over two to five years, students would normally complete the modules marked PT1 before moving on to the modules marked PT2.

The MSc Mega Infrastructure Planning, Appraisal and Delivery comprises 120 credits of taught modules, including an elective module and group project, and a dissertation carrying 60 credits. It runs over one year, full time, and two years part time (though the programme can be studied over a period of up to five years in modular mode), with most classes timetabled in the first and second terms.

Compulsory Modules

BENVGMP1 Mega Infrastructures as Agents of Change
Credits: 15
Assessment: Coursework
Term 1

BENVGMP2 Infrastructure Planning, Appraisal and Delivery Toolbox
Credits: 15
Assessment: Coursework
Term 1

BENVGMP3 Risk, Uncertainty and Complexity in Decision-Making
Credits: 15
Assessment: Coursework
Term 1

BENVGMP4 Critical Issues in Mega Infrastructure Investments
Credits: 15
Assessment: Coursework
Term 2

BENVGMP5 21st Century infrastructure planning, appraisal and delivery toolbox
Credits: 15
Assessment: Examination
Term 2

BENVMP6 Sustainability Visions and Challenges for Mega Infrastructure Investments
Credits: 15
Assessment: Coursework
Term 2

BENVGMP7 Student Group Project
Credits: 15
Assessment: Coursework
Term 2

BENVGPL3 Planning Research Support Module
Credits: 0
Assessment: None (attendance only)
Term 3

BENVGPL7 Dissertation
Credits: 60
Assessment: Dissertation
Term 3 and Summer

Elective Modules

Students are required to select one module in term one from a range of postgraduate modules offered to the programme by the Bartlett School of Planning, the Development Planning Unit, the Department of Geography and the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at UCL. Module selection is undertaken following discussion with the Programme Director.

Field trip

A week's field visit to selected mega infrastructure developments in Europe will enable students to explore the way that different contexts - including cultural, political and institutional - frame mega infrastructure planning, appraisal and delivery. This event will be informed by talks from selected promoters of and stakeholders in these projects.

Content

Compulsory Modules

BENVGMP1 Mega Infrastructures as Agents of Change defines the overarching characteristics of mega infrastructure projects, programmes and plans and examines their roles as agents of change. It encompasses the understanding of past perspectives of the roles of mega infrastructure and the investigation of 21st-century perspectives, where the global interdependency of economic growth and environmental impacts appears stronger than ever before, and where sustainability looms large as a key challenge for future generations.

BENVGMP2 Infrastructure Planning, Appraisal and Delivery Toolbox presents the 'traditional' tools employed in the planning, appraisal and delivery of mega infrastructure projects, programmes and plans in the key sectors of transport, energy, water and urban regeneration (including cost benefit analysis (CBA), net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR) and approaches to modelling risk). It critically reviews the theory and practice used in these fields, drawing extensively on case studies in the UK and overseas in the developed and developing world.

BENVGMP3 Risk, Uncertainty and Complexity in Decision-Making introduces and critically reviews the treatment of risk, uncertainty and complexity and their relationship to decision-making in mega infrastructure planning, appraisal and delivery. The module draws on academic literature that presents the 21st century as an era of greater risk and uncertainty as global interdependencies increase. It also calls on case study research findings derived by the Bartlett's OMEGA Centre from an examination of decision-making in professions and disciplines where risk, uncertainty and complexity are at the milieu of their planning and appraisal processes, as in the case of the military, medicine, insurance, banking and earthquake engineering.

BENVGMP4 Critical Debates in Mega Infrastructure Investments focuses on critical issues in mega infrastructure development across all sectors in both the developed and developing world. It will be founded on topics, such as the role of public and private partnerships (PPPs) in the investment of such infrastructure, drawn from independent reading as a basis for critical reflection. Led by a facilitator, this module comprises an introductory lecture and seminar contributions by experienced practitioners in mega infrastructure development, followed by student presentations on these same themes.

BENVGMP5 21st Century Infrastructure Planning, Appraisal and Delivery Toolbox questions the belief that too many conventional planning, appraisal and delivery approaches to mega infrastructure investment are not 'fit for purpose' for the 21st century in light of the sustainability challenges they confront. The module substantiates this view by drawing from theoretical and empirically-based arguments. It responds to the identified shortfalls and limitations of traditional practices - particularly the cost benefit analysis (CBA) paradigm for the monetisation and assessment of costs and benefits - by proposing alternative approaches.

BENVMP6 Sustainability Visions and Challenges for Mega Infrastructure Investments examines the evolution of the vision of sustainability as it applies to mega infrastructure development across all sectors. This is presented in the context of the premise that the 21st century is destined to encounter increasing risks (and opportunities) and uncertainties as the forces of globalisation unfold. In addition to studying the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainability, this module includes the concept of sustainable institutions as a fourth dimension.

BENVGMP7 Student Group Project performs an integrating function between the theoretical and empirical elements of mega infrastructure planning, appraisal and delivery. A specific study area and associated case study is selected and students will be asked to undertake client-based research notionally commissioned by a national or regional development agency from the perspective of a consulting firm.

BENVGPL3 Planning Research Support Module

BENVGPL7 Dissertation

Staff

Programme Director

Professor Harry Dimitriou
View Harry's profile
Send Harry an email

Staff teaching on the programme currently include

Dr John Ward
View John's profile
Send John an email

Philip Wright
View Phil's profile
Send Phil an email

Applying

Application procedures, fees, funding and scholarships

For information, please see the faculty admissions information here.

Opportunities

Graduate students from the Bartlett School of Planning have been very successful in gaining subsequent employment. There is growing demand for our Masters' graduates from a wide range of both public and private employers. While the main source of employment remains in local government and central government planning and in planning-related consultancy, graduates are also employed in the following areas:

• housing and transport sectors
• planning, urban regeneration and environmental agencies
• public and private utility companies
• teaching and research