HISTORY OF THE DEPARTMENT

THE MAKING OF THE BEST

Introduction

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning was to be established at the second phase of the University Development as reflected in the Technical Report establishing the university. Therefore, the Department was not established until 1992/1993 academic year. The Department of Urban and Regional Planning was housed in the then Faculty of Environmental Sciences building with two other Departments-Architecture and Fine and Applied Arts. The Department of Architecture was the only Department in the Faculty at the inception of the University and the Department of Fine and Applied Arts started the same time with the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. The road to greatness of the Department was not smooth, as it was full; of ups and downs. Within the month of August, 1992 and December, 1992, the curriculum of the Department was fine tuned and processed through the appropriate committees of the University for take off by the 1992/93 academic year. The Department took off in a room in the then Faculty of Environmental Sciences building, housing the Head of the Department, the secretary, a typist, an office assistant, a technologist and a Graduate Assistant; Since that time the Department has been growing steadily as highlighted below

THE PROGRAM PHILOSOPHY

Objectives and Curriculum

The philosophy of Urban and Regional Planning at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) was based on the fact that Urban and Regional Planning is future, environmental and people-oriented. Thus the objectives of the programme are set to go along with the philosophy of the programme. In a nutshell, the aim of the programme is to provide specialized training to students so as to equip them with appropriate tools with which to plan for the satisfaction of the socio-economic and socio-cultural needs of the society through judicious proposals for the utilization of the physical environment. Therefore, the specific objectives of the Urban and Regional Planning Programme are to develop the students to acquire:

  • Strong theoretical and design skills
  • Strong theoretical an analytical skills for the formulation of policies and physical plans
  • Specialized training adequate to launch the students into specialist fields of Urban and Regional Planning.

In order to achieve the above stated objectives, the curriculum was fashioned out in a unique way to differentiate the programme from those of other Nigerian Universities. This was done for three main reasons.

  • To correct the hitherto “strong-in-theory-weak-in-practice” characteristic of the curriculum of the discipline in existing traditional Universities in Nigeria.
  • The environment differs in their content, habitation and hence need to be treated in accordance with the peculiar rules governing the usage in particular cultural milieus.
  • That the physical environment is dynamic and the physical planners must be conscious of its continuous changes that require continuous modifications in order to meet the dynamic needs of the society.
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