Second ‘First Year Experience’ (FYE-II) for 27 First Year UTM Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning Students

Out of the Studio, into the Real World! Second ‘First Year Experience’ (FYE-II) for 27 First Year UTM Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning students in Melaka and the Klang Valley

In order to produce high quality town planners who are able to practically and holistically contribute to more sustainable development of the country, apart from having a forward-looking, innovative, world class Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning (B.URP) curriculum, it is highly essential that the B.URP program be designed “for the real world”; and “planning for the real world” begins in the early year of the planning education.

With this in view, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (JPBW), Faculty of Built Environment (FAB), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru (UTMJB) organised the second First Year Experience (FYE-II) program that was integrated with the field trip of the First Year, Second Semester’s Site Planning and Layout Studio (SBEP 1125) on 16-18 April 2015.

The studio field trip cum FYE-II program took 27 First Year B.URP students out of the Studio and into the real world, to:

1. The World Heritage City of Melaka for onsite perception and appreciation of Malaysia’s glorious urbanisation history that formally dates back to at least 600 years;
2. The Cosmopolitan Capital City of Kuala Lumpur that included a technical briefing and professional motivation by locally grown, highly successful international urban design and planning practice, APUDG Sdn Bhd;
3. The Visionary Federal Administrative City of Putrajaya for onsite perception and appreciation of bold, visionary and innovative master planning by local planning talents; and
4. Award-winning master planning residential project, Bandar Botanic, Klang for onsite technical briefing on good site engineering, neighbourhood planning and layout design ideas and principles.

The students, led by Mr. Chau Loon Wai and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nooraini Yusoff, returned to UTMJB high-spirited and motivated with renewed aspiration, confidence and commitment in planning and building better Malaysian cities/towns.