Planning with Real Estate

Planning and real estate is a degree that spans two intimately related disciplines: the public regulation of land use and development, and the private markets in which land and property are bought, sold, developed, and managed. Town planning is the practice through which societies decide collectively how land should be used, where homes, workplaces, shops, and infrastructure should go, and how urban and rural environments can be shaped to serve communities well. Real estate brings the commercial and financial perspective, concerned with property values, investment, development appraisal, and the management of built assets.

Understanding both gives you a comprehensive view of how places are made and how property markets function within that regulatory context.

At the University of Manchester, this four-year full-time programme includes a sandwich placement year and a work placement, which are central features. Manchester has one of the most active property markets and planning environments in the UK outside London, and the department has strong relationships with planning authorities, property consultancies, developers, and housing associations that provide the professional context for placement opportunities. Manchester is a city undergoing significant urban transformation, and studying planning and real estate here means that the subjects you study are playing out at scale in the environment immediately around you.

You will study planning law, development management, housing policy, urban regeneration, property economics, real estate finance, and the history and theory of urban planning. The combination of technical knowledge and commercial understanding is exactly what employers in both the public and private sectors value in planning and property graduates.

Graduates move into town planning roles in local authorities and consultancies, real estate surveying and investment, property development, housing associations, and infrastructure organisations. Both planning and surveying offer clear routes to professional chartership.