International Journal of

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This paper presents a critical examination of the status of urban planning as a discipline and profession. The paper is comprised of two main sections. The first is a theoretical review of various selective related studies conducted in English-speaking countries, with a particular focus on those from the United Kingdom and the United States. The second is a survey of 61 professional and graduate urban planners in Iran, which was conducted using a non-probability sampling method. The most significant variables examined are the essential skills and competencies of planners, the inclination to pursue the same field of study once more, and the discrepancy between academic education and professional training. In conclusion, the theoretical and survey-based findings are interpreted from sociological, epistemological, and political economy perspectives, and recommendations are provided. This article is distinctive in its use of an interpretive approach to quantitative and qualitative findings, as well as its combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to achieve a form of causality in the issues of the field and profession of planning.

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Integrating different parts of the curriculum is one of the important challenges in architecture education. Curriculum development has an important role in linking theoretical subjects into practical design studios. This study focuses on an analytical comparison of two architecture curricula in different contexts of Australia and Iran. The purpose is to find the limitations and benefits of each curriculum through educational systems, teaching time for theoretical and practical subjects, and the map of courses and subjects. This paper contributes to the literature of architecture education through analysis of integrating different subjects. This study implements a document analysis method and a comparative case study method. The comparison indicates that although the architecture curriculum in Iran benefits from an extensive education with more subjects, wider content, and triple teaching time, it provides less opportunity for integrating theoretical and practical subjects. Furthermore, course structures at Australian universities benefit from greater flexibility and choice for students to individualise their course through elective subjects. Architecture education is a problem-based and project-based learning, so the results of this research have a wide application in research on higher education. Also, the findings of this study can assist design schools to improve their curricula through linking theory to practice.