The
originality of ISURU
The postgraduate Town and Country Planning Department provides students
(already holding higher education qualifications and generally working)
with sufficient experience and exposure to broach the complex issues
surrounding land and town planning efficiently.
ISURU is unique in Europe by teaching town planning from both the
theoretical and practical perspectives taking the town and local district,
situated in their wider context, as examples. The Institute's teaching
is based on a global vision of society couched in a spirit of change
and pluralism.
The courses and work carried out mainly prepare students to operate
as town planners in the existing towns of north-western Europe whilst
also raising their awareness of the specific issues surrounding the
rapid urbanisation of the developing world.
What is town planning?
Town planning is the art of planning and managing the towns and environments
in which we live. It covers the analysis of current situations, the
definition of projects for the future and the overseeing of their
completion over time. It is science-based, involving aspects such
as history, economics and sociology and calls upon various techniques
in its practice. Connected to the organisation and transformation
of the city, it is also political, in the etymological sense of the
term.
Town planning meets an important general societal need by organising
space harmoniously to reduce the conflict and waste that individual,
unplanned actions engender. It is still a youthful discipline, still
fully in the throes of development. This dynamism is notable through
the increasing depth of theoretical research, the rapid development
of taught subjects, the breadth of fields of research - which are
still largely unexplored - and the on-going changes to practice.
ISURU's
aim
The goal of the Town and Country Planning Department is to train professional
town planners specialising in the design and management of space,
exercising mainly in the specific context of existing towns and outer
urban and rural environments in north-western Europe, whilst at the
same time having a broad awareness of the issues arising in other
situations and contexts. This involves, in particular, an examination
of the urbanisation of developing world countries, providing an initial
step towards openings in those countries.
Along with training professional town planners, ISURU is open to those
who, in their daily or working lives, or studies, require training
or information on town planning. The institute also welcomes unenrolled
students and attendees to its lectures to meet their own specific
needs, along with those undergoing retraining and day-release training.
The teaching given to town planning students incorporates a theoretical
component which, based on preliminary hypotheses and construction
projects, allows students to observe, analyse and diagnose situations.
There is also a creative component which allows students to bring
together the various situational elements into a project that they
formulate themselves.
The training also increases their interdisciplinary skills. To this
end, they are required to use their own expertise in implementing
town planning tools and methods. This training also prepares students
for group working and meeting the various different players in planning
and development (government bodies, community groups, isolated individuals,
expert witnesses, etc.).
ISURU is a teaching institute open to the town and its citizens on
the one hand and to the various professional fields on the other:
• its library and Wednesday lectures are open to the public;
• numerous professionals give talks, take part in seminars and
sit on town planning juries;
• the study programme follows the recommendations of the European
Council of Town Planners, which is made up of the associations of
town planning professionals from the various European Union countries.
The
history of ISURU
The Town Planning Institute of Brussels, which was to become ISURU
a few years later, was founded in 1947. The Belgian architectural
engineer, Henri Gilis, and the French town planner, Gaston Bardet,
founded the first town planning school in Brussels which, at that
time, was known as the Higher International Institute of Town Planning.
Alongside its Belgian students, the courses were even at that time
attended by many students from other European and Developing World
countries. From 1947 to 1964 the Institute was located in the Rue
des Palais at Schaerbeek. It then moved to its current location in
the Rue de la Victoire.
After the war, town planners were concerned with reconstruction, the
effects of the baby-boom, the swelling of town populations, growing
private car ownership and increasing traffic flows, along with the
economic expansion that culminated in the "golden sixties".
Slowly, under the influence of fresh theories and established residents'
committees, and supported by the actions and theories of town planners,
interest shifted to conservation and the restructuring of existing
towns and local districts within them. New approaches to town planning
appeared, offering much greater opportunities for the involvement
of inhabitants and socioeconomic groups. To meet these new needs,
the philosophy and programme of the courses on offer was recast in
1972 and the institute took its current name of the Higher Institute
of Town Planning and Urban Renewal.
Later on new concerns over the environment, conservation and the reuse
of built and natural heritage arose. The course programme was therefore
fully updated in 1994 to follow the trends in town planning doctrines
and practices more closely. As well as these major upheavals, the
course programme frequently undergoes lighter modifications.
There are currently several hundred graduates of the school working
in countries around the world.
The
ISURU philosophy
The Institute has been characterised by a humanist and social approach
to the city from the outset, as well as being noted for its openness
to all opinions running through society. These principles of respect
and mutual tolerance have allowed a great variety of opinion, philosophical
direction, theory and practice in town planning to coexist at ISURU
amongst both students and teachers. This variety reflects the complexity
of urban society and promotes a great richness of debate on the questions
dealt with during classes.
The shared vision of all of the opinions held is to consider the environment
and town as above all a space for the human beings who work there,
pursue leisure interests there and live out their daily lives there.
This vision takes priority over subsidiary approaches that see the
town as a work of art, concentrating on landscaping, architecture
or urban art, or as an object of economic, sociological or geographic
science, or a technical object focussing on transport networks and
supply and exit routes, or even as a power space, etc.
The
pedagogical principles at ISURU
To approach the highly complex subject of town and country planning,
ISURU pedagogy moves from the general to the specific and from the
simple to the complex over the three years of study and during the
practical work completed each year. This process is therefore very
different to that in place at most town planning (and landscaping
and architecture) schools which begin with small projects, moving
on to projects encompassing ever larger areas.
Teaching couples theory and practice, the latter being covered by
the town planning workshops which occupy a central role for both teaching
and student assessment. Seminars connect the two strands of theory
and practice. They involve numerous external guests giving talks and
taking part in open debates. Along with the knowledge passed on, the
courses and workshops aim to develop a sense of critique in relation
to the city and society in order to afford the sciences and techniques
used in their correct place so that students become aware of their
impact and limits.
As a concrete example of this approach of moving from the general
to the specific, the town planning workshop during the first year
aims, on the one hand, to help students grasp the main interactions
and underlying tendencies that fashion land management and the town
and, on the other, to have them produce a corresponding project. Thus
a vast amount of territory is covered. In the second year, however,
the workshop aims to concentrate on the complexities and specifics
of detail, which involves a more restricted territory. Specialisation
then comes through the thesis, to be completed at the end of the third
year.
Situated at the crossroads of multitudinous disciplines, town planning
requires an interdisciplinary approach in order for the complexity
of situations to be controlled. At ISURU this interdisciplinarity
is provided by the richness of the teaching body and the admission
of students from a broad disciplinary base. Interdisciplinarity is
also learned through team working during certain phases of the town
planning workshop.
Students
at ISURU
Most of the students drawn to town planning studies at ISURU hold
diplomas from higher education establishments and are already working.
On top of which, certain students in the final years of their degree
studies attend courses at ISURU. Students come from a wide variety
of professional and geographical backgrounds. Alongside those whose
initial training has prepared them for the diploma (involving fields
such as economics, sociology, geography, architecture, landscaping,
environmental studies and engineering, etc.) other candidates are
spurned on by their passion for town planning.
Recent graduates with a first diploma may be seeking supplementary,
more specialist, training whilst others, a little older, want to change
the direction of their professional path. Finally, there are those
wishing to arm themselves with the means to act as responsible citizens,
with their studies being totally detached from their usual professional
lives.
ISURU
admission conditions
Admission is open to:
• holders of university level, higher education qualifications,
involving diploma courses or degrees;
• holders of non-university higher education diplomas for long
and short courses.
Following advice from the Study Board, the Institute may admit students
not fulfilling these conditions. Admissions tests may be set for such
applicants.
Courses are attended by enrolled students, unenrolled students and
auditors. Enrolled students are those hoping to obtain the Town Planning
Diploma. Unenrolled students take certain courses and sit certain
exams. Auditors take one or several courses without sitting any exams.
The
ISURU Diploma and opportunities
At the end of the three years, and following the successful completion
of a thesis, students are awarded the Town Planning Diploma. This
diploma is recognised and accredited by the Ministry of Education.
It allows holders to be appointed by the relevant authorities as project
designers on official town and country planning schemes. It also allows
holders to join the Chamber of Town Planners of Belgium, the only
professional union recognised in French-speaking Belgium, which works
closely with the European Council of Town Planners.
Numerous
other opportunities are open to the holders of ISURU town planning
diplomas, such as:
• national, provincial, regional and local public planning and
development bodies in Belgium and abroad;
• town planning architects practices, research units;
• urban and regional planning offices;
• research, study and teaching bodies;
• planning and development projects.
The three years of study allows holders of the diploma to circulate
and work freely in all European Union (EC) countries. Holders of diplomas
also work in countries outside of the European Union.
Several ISURU graduates already holding university degrees have been
admitted to Masters and PhD programmes at various universities.
ISURU's staff
Part of our teaching staff is made up of full-time research lecturers
who also work in other universities and higher education establishments.
The rest is made up of practitioners who devote part of their time
to teaching and passing on their professional experience and expertise.
Added to the above are speakers who are called in to give talks on
specific matters.
This make up of the teaching body contributes to the balance between
theory and practice, maintaining the link between the training given
at ISURU and the realities of the profession.
ISURU resources
The Institute boasts its own premises which comprise workshops and
classrooms that are perfectly suited to the student groups using them.
An IT suite is also available for use by students. The Institute also
has access to the main auditoria of the Saint-Luc Higher Institute
of Architecture for lectures involving a larger audience.
The ISURU library contains over two thousand titles in the field of
town planning and its associated subjects along with all the major
journals. It is part of the URBAMET network which brings together
numerous European town planning and architecture libraries providing
inter-library loans. The Saint-Luc library is also open to enrolled
students.
Some course sessions take place in private or university laboratories
that specialise in subjects such as cartography or geographical information
systems.
A Social Welfare unit is able to help certain students with serious
financial difficulties that could compromise their enrolment in the
Institute.
The
structure of ISURU
ISURU is an independent Institute with specific organisational powers.
It is formed as a not-for-profit organisation and is connected to
the Ecoles Saint-Luc network which affords it tangible institutional
power and makes the best of its small size. It maintains on-going
relations with the Saint-Luc Higher Institute of Architecture in Brussels.
The Chairperson takes on the role of studies advisor to the students.
He is supported by an Academic Board that sets the main themes of
the teaching programme and the various courses and is able to deal
with all teaching matters. An Academic Board is charged with granting
the relevant awards for each teaching unit.
ISURU is recognised by and financially supported by the Ministry of
Education for the French-speaking community of Belgium. It is classed
as a higher education establishment for social promotion.
ISURU is a full member of AESOP (Association of European Schools of
Planning), which groups together town planning schools from the Council
of Europe countries. The association recognises as full members institutes
and faculties that provide specific, complete and substantial training
in town planning. AESOP comprises 89 full members out of 139 member
institutes.
ISURU is also an active member of APERAU (Association for the Promotion
of Study and Research in Town and Country Planning), which groups
together 43 town planning training programmes distributed throughout
faculties and higher education establishments in French-speaking Europe,
North America, Africa and the Middle East. ISURU was awarded active
member status subsequent to a qualitative assessment of the training
it offers by an international panel of experts made up of town planning
teachers and practitioners. APERAU counts 25 training programmes with
active member status.
The
ISURU academic year
Enrolments take place from the start of September to mid-October each
academic year. Enrolment fees are notified by the secretary's office.
The academic year begins on October 1st and ends at the beginning
of July. It includes the usual breaks observed by educational establishments.
Classes take place every evening between 6pm and 9pm, along with some
Saturday mornings. Theory classes end during May and are followed
by exams at the end of the month. June is given over exclusively to
intensive practical work, which is judged at the start of July. An
examination period is held during September.
To meet the needs of all students' working lives, individual programmes
can be drawn up, for example stretching the three academic years over
a longer period.
