Bartlett School of Planning

7. Writing Your Major Research Project Proposal

Compulsory lecture 7
BPLN0052 Urban Design Major Research Project
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The Proposal
• First substantial document outlining your intentions for research

• Key element of summative assessment (50% towards your final BPLN0022 Urban Investigations mark) that
will enable your supervisor to decide if you are ready to begin data collection/field work

• Comprehensive overview of topic and approach, detailed enough to solicit meaningful feedback from your
supervisor

• Essential elements of the proposal have been identified for you in the Introduction to the Major Research
Project lecture (Moodle) and are set out for you plainly in the MRP Guidance document ( Moodle)

• The proposal should be 4000 words in length (excluding references and appended required proformas)
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Working title – capturing the essence of what your are proposing to research

Contents Statement of context/Background: identification of a urban design-relevant issue or concern and the
background within which the key research question you want to ask is located, ie. the general area of debate
and scholarly or practice debate the research will approach and respond to.

Explanation of contribution to practice

Brief overview of the literature: establishing the ‘fit’ between your research topic and existing scholarly study of
the phenomenon/issue, as well as demonstrate initial knowledge of the chosen topic identifying key references
in academic discourse, practice-base debates and/or case-studies projects which throw practical design insights
on the subject.

Preliminary Research Question, which can be broken down into Objectives (See compulsory lectures 4 and 5,
Moodle BPLN0023)

Statement of proposed methodology: outline of general approach and line of inquiry (research-led design or
other), including an explanation of how the research topic and questions will be explored by research and
design, what kind of concepts, definitions and best practice will be explored in literature, and what type and
scale of explorations will feed and steer the research process. Also and overall, reflection on the role of design in
the whole of the research process.

Statement of ethical considerations related specifically to the proposed approach and methods

Timetable: preferably Gantt Chart (key milestones, tasks, dates, show overlap)
Night in the City: Designing Safe Women-Oriented City - “What will the safe night-time city designed for women be like?”
Bartlett School of Planning

The working title – capturing the essence of what your are proposing to research

Bingham (2017) breaks down titles into this format

Some tips e.g.

general + specific

Water sensitive urban design: social and environmental regeneration through the

for getting retrofitting of defensive open spaces in housing estates

Clean air clusters - Creating smog free neighbourhoods using urban design, thereby
them enhancing the urban environmental and social health, employing Kraków, Poland, as a
test bed.

together… Urban Heat Island (UHI) Effect: How current urban design and planning can apply
interventions to reduce climate change

Night in the City: Designing Safe Women-Oriented City - “What will the safe night-time
city designed for women be like?”
Night in the City: Designing Safe Women-Oriented City - “What will the safe night-time city designed for women be like?”
Bartlett School of Planning

Statement of context/Background This explains why you want to study the topic and provides a
rationale for the relevance of pursuing the study

• Use your preliminary background reading 'around' the topic to facilitate the writing of your

Some tips
context statement BUT don't go overboard
• This is not a comprehensive literature review, but mention key influences or catalysts from
literature and urban design practice (ie. debate published in professional magazine, plus eg.

for getting of projects) that have drawn you towards the research framework you are proposing

Explanation of contribution to practice – explain in which way your research will be raise

them understanding of you chosen subject and be useful/help urban designers to improve and or
change their daily practice. Overall, demonstrating it be not something UD practictioners could
carry on themselves as part of their daily practice.

together… Brief overview of the literature - for the Proposal you need only to identify the schools of
thought, disciplinary perspectives, key authors and concepts that will be engaged in the
research. YOU DO NOT NEED TO WRITE A MINI-LITERATURE REVIEW. See Lecture ”Writing a
Literature Review” on Moodle.

Preliminary Research Question (s) - see Lectures 3 and 4

Night in the City: Designing Safe Women-Oriented City - “What will the safe night-time city designed for women be like?”
Bartlett School of Planning

Statement of proposed methodology – First of all, reiterate the research question(s), the
objectives and purpose set out at the outset of the research, and then follow on to explain how
these will be pursued, ie, explored and answered in the research project.
- It is essential in the proposal to be clear on the 'type' of research you want to undertake,

Some tips followed by a statement of approach demonstrating you understand it (i.e. research by
design and within that, which line of inquiry you are following – see Lecture 5)
- Also, when and how you will perform fieldwork/site-visits and collect your data (methods
for getting such as mappings, recordings, observations, etc) and why.
- Also, that you mention the way in which literature and case-studies research will interact
with design explorations in your research process, ie. a) when will research and or design be
them carried out, b) what kind of design explorations and which scale will you be carrying out,
and c) in which way it will benefit and feed into the research questions and help you

together…
progress with research.
- Also, present your site of intervention and justify this choice. For an explantion of all the
above see Lecture 5.

Statement of ethical considerations - 'moral code of conduct when human participants are the
focus of empirical research' ( Biggam 2017, p. 6 6) See Lecture 7 for specific guidance on ethical
consideration.

Timetable - intended time spent on each task to attain milestones in progress of Major Project
research and writing completion; can be in a table or Gantt; there should be periods of overlap
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• The Proposal requirements have been set out for you in an editable
template (available on Moodle)

• This template includes blank copies of the compulsory requirements

Proformas for ethical clearance and risk assessment (See compulsory lecture 6)

• The Proposal is not considered 'complete' unless it includes all three

and elements:

Required 1. Main Proposal Body

2. Ethical Clearance Questionnaire ( copy of the original that is
submitted directly to Moodle)
Approvals 3. Risk Assessment Form

Your supervisor will read, mark and feedback on the substantive

proposal AND will be responsible for reviewing and signing-off on the
ethical clearance and risk assessment forms.

Both appended forms are also compulsory for the submission of the
final MRP in September and you will be blocked from submitting the
final document until the forms submitted and approved.
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The Proposal is due for submission via Moodle page BPLN0022 by 5pm on

Reminders Monday 27th April

Remember to complete the submission of the Ethical Clearance Questionnaire

and directly on Moodle (it is a precondition setting restricting submission of the
proposal until this is completed and turned in).

Deadlines