Spatial Planning - Bolton Street & Grangegorman

What is Spatial Planning?

This part-time course provides an opportunity for practitioners and qualified individuals to become professional planners by attending an accredited part-time planning course. Through a modular delivery of lectures, tutorials and seminars over a period of 2.5 years, including the successful completion of a dissertation, students can obtain a highly recognised planning qualification.



The course is presented within the School of Transport Engineering, Environment and Planning in TU Dublin Bolton Street. An intake of 10-15 students is envisaged, of different disciplines and backgrounds, all with some professional experience, usually in the built environment. The course provides scope for a considerable degree of inter-disciplinary learning both within the student group as well as between lecturers and students.



The group environment fosters a creative atmosphere of interactive problem-based learning. Students are set real-life challenges often involving actual problems facing planning agencies, who also get involved in tuition and assessment. The teaching faculty is made up of committed TU Dublin personnel in addition to practising professionals, considered some of Ireland’s leading experts in their respective disciplines.



Students and staff engage directly with agencies and community/industry in project work on a routine basis. A high level of industry involvement is ensured in guest lectures, programme development, project work, feedback and critique, etc.



The Spatial Planning Graduate Network, an alumni network organised by graduates of the course and the programme chairperson, runs a CPD and forum programme which directly involves and is linked to the current course.

Module Listing

Year One

Semester 1

• Cultural Heritage & Urbanism [Mandatory]

• History & Theory of Planning [Mandatory]

• Planning Law & Institutions II [Mandatory]

• Planning Practice - Logbooks [Mandatory]

• Research Techniques [Mandatory]

• Rural Environment & Planning [Mandatory]

• Socio-economic Environment [Mandatory]

• Technology & Infrastructure [Mandatory]

• Urban Design [Mandatory]

• Prior Learning [Elective]



Semester 2

• Rural Environment & Planning [Mandatory]

• History & Theory of Planning [Mandatory]

• Planning Law & Institutions II [Mandatory]

• Socio-economic Environment [Mandatory]

• Research Techniques [Mandatory]

• Technology & Infrastructure [Mandatory]

• Cultural Heritage & Urbanism [Mandatory]

• Planning Practice - Logbooks [Mandatory]

• Urban Design [Mandatory]



Year Two

Semester 1

• Local Area Plan [Mandatory]

• National & Regional Planning [Mandatory]

• Planning Practice - Logbooks [Mandatory]

• Planning Techniques [Mandatory]

• Transport & Urban Development [Mandatory]



Semester 2

• Local Area Plan [Mandatory]

• National & Regional Planning [Mandatory]

• Planning Practice - Logbooks [Mandatory]

• Planning Techniques [Mandatory]

• Transport & Urban Development [Mandatory]



Year Three

Semester 1

• Planning Practice - Logbooks [Mandatory]

• Dissertation [Mandatory]

Minimum Entry Requirements?

In order to be admitted to the course, applicants must meet the following requirements:

• Have an appropriate honours (2.2 grade or higher) bachelor degree.

• Have five years relevant experience in an area generally related to planning.

• Have an ability to undertake practice during the course that is relevant to planning (see attached note on "Planning Practice Logbook Requirement" for details).



Prospective students are expected to address the above matters in their written application as well as in an interview. Acceptance onto the course is by interview. A Selection Interview Panel is convened, usually in early-June, to decide on course intake for the following September.

Applications for full-time and some part-time postgraduate programmes commencing in September 2026 are now open. Applications for the remaining part-time programmes will open in February 2026. Please check individual course pages for application details.

2.5 years part-time, blended delivery.

Commencement Date: September 2026.

What are my career opportunities?

The course is accredited by the Irish Planning Institute and the Royal Town Planning Institute, the two established and internationally recognised accreditation bodies for spatial planning in Ireland. Many graduates use their knowledge to supplement their existing professional practice. Equally, many others use the course to reskill into planning positions within local authorities, agencies, government bodies or private practice. Others still, use the course to develop practice in new and emerging areas of planning, which like any contemporary profession is an evolving field.