The Bachelor of Urban Planning at ALHOSN University is a unique program in the United Arab Emirates. It responds to the growing need for adequate planning in view of the rapid local urban growth along with the associated housing, transportation, social and environmental challenges. The program stresses planning as problem-solving activity oriented toward the future with special emphasis on the built and natural environment and on improving the quality of life.
The four-year curriculum consists of general and specialized professional planning lectures or seminar courses, a sequence of “studio” courses, and professional practice (internship). Studios are real-world projects worked on by students in small groups. They provide students with an opportunity to try out techniques of urban planning in creative team setting. Substantive material is not limited to courses in city and regional planning, but additional disciplines such as geography, ecology, sociology, economics and politics are also integrated into the core learning material in order to provide students with a multi-disciplinary approach in effective urban and regional planning.