About the Course

Civic Design CPD

Since 2018, we have been running a short course on Civic Design, which is delivered in collaboration with community groups in London. Below, you can find information about the course and you can also navigate through the projects that students have done in collaboration with community groups.

Are you interested in learning how to run a co-design process, better enable civic engagement and involve communities in decision-making?

This is a blended course for planners, urban designers and architects working in practice, consultancy, as freelancers, or in local authorities. The course is ideal for those involved in co-design processes and community engagement.

Civic engagement is now considered to be a key process in urban design and planning practice. For avoiding ‘box-ticking’ engagement processes that do not genuinely involve communities in decision making, it is essential to learn and experience how to work in collaboration with communities.

Delivered in collaboration with community groups across London, the UCL Civic Design course will:

• Equip participants with methods and tools to run co-design processes, enable civic engagement and involve communities in decision-making.
• Expose participants to the direct experience of working in collaboration with community groups.
• During the course you will undertake a group project together with a London community group. The brief for the course will be previously agreed with the community groups and it will address some of the current needs of the community. The project is guided by tutors from the Bartlett School of Planning, UCL and offers you the opportunity to learn through direct experience of including communities in the decision-making process.

This course is delivered in collaboration with CivicWise, an international community of professionals working on tools and projects for civic engagement. The course will provide participants the opportunity to connect with this network of professionals.

Find out about the course dates, fees and details in the Bartlett School of Planning’s website. The course runs both as a CPD for professionals and as a Masters’ module for UCL students.