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Course Description

2.1 Foundation courses

Year 1

FGEN01: English Language I

As most textbooks and research book in Cambodia are written in English or French, foreign language acquisition is essential for professors and students alike. The development of students’ knowledge base and research skills across all disciplines at the Royal University of Phnom Penh is an outstanding goal of this foreign language program. This course include writing, speaking, reading skills and grammar to ease students more understanding on the concept of development.

FGEN02: English Language II and III

As most textbooks and research book in Cambodia are written in English or French, foreign language acquisition is essential for professors and students alike. The development of students’ knowledge base and research skills across all disciplines at the Royal University of Phnom Penh is an outstanding goal of this foreign language program. This course include writing, speaking, reading skills and grammar to ease students more understanding on the concept of development.

FGSS01: ​Study Skills I (General)

The academic skills will equip students with searching resources, research skills, critical thinking, reading, academic writing and referencing. It also provides the tactic in doing presentation including oral presentation. After completing the course, students are well equipped with knowledge, skills, and tools to cross their academic study at the university.

FGMA04: General and Applied Math

មុខវិជ្ជានេះណែនាំនិស្សិតអំពីការអនុវត្តជាក់ស្តែងក្នុងស្ថិតិដោយវិធានស្ថិតិ ក្នុងការវាស់វែងនិងការពិពណ៌នាអំពីទិន្នន័យ ប្រូបាប៊ីលីតេ របាយអថេរចៃដន្យ របាយប្រូបាប៊ីលីតេដាច់ របាយធម្មតា ទ្រឹស្តីសំណាកគំរូ ការប៉ាន់ប្រមាណនៃប៉ារ៉ាម៉ែត្រ ការធ្វើតេស្តសម្មតិកម្ម ការវិភាគបែបថយចុះ (regression) និងការវិភាគសហសម្ព័ន្ធ (correlation) ការវិភាគនៃការប្រែប្រួល និងស្ថិតិដែលមិនមែនជាប៉ារ៉ាម៉ែត្រ។

FGCS01: Introduction to Sociology

Through this course, students explore various concepts and theories regarding society, institutions, human and sociological perspectives, social processing, social change and social problems. They develop creative and critical thinking skills, and apply their insights to society and everyday life, by examine social roles and power, deviance, social control through public opinion, propaganda, and social change.

FGMA02: Statistics

មុខវិជ្ជានេះណែនាំនិស្សិតអំពីការអនុវត្តជាក់ស្តែងក្នុងស្ថិតិដោយវិធានស្ថិតិ ក្នុងការវាស់វែងនិងការពិពណ៌នាអំពីទិន្នន័យ ប្រូបាប៊ីលីតេ របាយអថេរចៃដន្យ របាយប្រូបាប៊ីលីតេដាច់ របាយធម្មតា ទ្រឹស្តីសំណាកគំរូ ការប៉ាន់ប្រមាណនៃប៉ារ៉ាម៉ែត្រ ការធ្វើតេស្តសម្មតិកម្ម ការវិភាគបែបថយចុះ (regression) និងការវិភាគសហសម្ព័ន្ធ (correlation) ការវិភាគនៃការប្រែប្រួល និងស្ថិតិដែលមិនមែនជាប៉ារ៉ាម៉ែត្រ។

FGKL02: Khmer Culture and Civilization

The course introduces students to theories of Khmer culture, identify, traditions and customs. Students also investigate the development and conservation of Khmer civilization from ancient to modern times. Themes covered include culture and society, national tradition, and social customs from birth till death, Khmer arts and Khmer architecture, including temples and monasteries.

FGHI01: Cambodian History

In this course, students examine the historical events and forces which have shaped Cambodia over a period of almost 2000 years. Cambodia is one of the oldest countries in the world and has experienced many social changes over this time. This course presents an overview of Khmer history over each period, from its pre-history to the Norkor Phnom, Chenlah, Angkork, Post-Angkor, Chaktomok, Longvek, Udong, French Protectorate, Sankum Reastr Niyum, the Khmer Republic of President Lon Nol, Democratic Kampuchea, Republic of Kampuchea/State of Cambodia, UNTAC and the second kingdom periods. The course also examines the causes of the rises and subsequent falls of Khmer civilization from one period to another, and how these reflect the changing political, social and religious landscapes of Cambodian civilization.

FGCS01: Computer Application

គោលបំណងសំខាន់នៃមុខវិជ្ជានេះគឺដើម្បីអភិវឌ្ឍសមត្ថភាពរបស់និស្សិតក្នុងការសរសេរកម្មវិធីនៅក្នុងកម្មវិធី C (C language) សម្រាប់ការដោះស្រាយបញ្ហាក្នុងផ្នែកគណិតវិទ្យា រូបវិទ្យា និងមុខវិជ្ជាផ្សេងៗទៀត។ មុខវិជ្ជានេះគ្របដណ្តប់ប្រធានបទជាច្រើន រួមទាំង ប្រភេទទិន្នន័យដូចជា ក្រាហ្វិក ការផ្ទុកទិន្នន័យ ឧបករណ៍ប្រតិបត្តិការ ការត្រួតពិនិត្យលំហូរ មុខងារនិងការបង្កើតឡើងវិញ ទ្រនិច អារេ ខ្សែអក្សរ រចនាសម្ព័ន្ធ សម្ព័ន្ធ ឧបករណ៍ដំណើរការមុន (pre-processors) និងបណ្ណាល័យស្តង់ដារ C ។ ពេលបញ្ចប់មុខវិជ្ជានេះ និសិ្សតមានជំនាញក្នុងការសរសេរកម្មវិធីមូលដ្ឋានរៀងៗខ្លួន។

2.2 Specialized courses

Year 1, Semester 2

DSUP101: Introduction to Urban Studies

This course is designed to introduce students to the multidisciplinary nature of urban studies. Students will learn the evolution of thoughts related to urban studies. And through local and overseas case studies, the instructors will investigate with students the social, economic, environmental and political aspects of urban development issues and their relationships with urban planning and design. Students will be encouraged to apply what they have learned to analyze an aspect of urban development.

SUP102: Introduction to Urban Sustainability

This course explores theories and practices pertaining to urban sustainability. Sustainability is not simply a collection of “social sustainability”, “economic sustainability”, and “environmental sustainability”, as none of which makes sense when considered independently. Urban sustainability is a state or process, in which urban development goals are met “while safeguarding Earth’s life-supporting system, on which the welfare of current and future generations depends”. This course addresses sustainability at the very core of the problem and the fundamental issue that gave rise to the notion of sustainability—the integrity of the Earth’s life-supporting system. Students will examine the global and local environmental problems, as well as consequential socioeconomic issues, arising from urban development and continuous urban growth. Students will also explore existing and emerging approaches to urban sustainability. Throughout the course, students will be challenged to contemplate on the relationship between human activities and nature, which is at the core of the quest of urban sustainability.

YEAR2: Semester 1

SUP201: Urban Planning Theory

Over the last century, our world is rapidly becoming predominantly urban. As such, cities embody some of society’s most pressing challenges, as diverse as unemployment, climate change, and environmental degradation. But cities also hold the key to unlocking national urban development. They present real opportunities for unleashing enormous economic potential, increasing energy efficiency, reducing inequities, and creating sustainable livelihoods for all. History has shown that urbanization leads to development. Urbanization is a driver rather than a by-product of development.

Growing cities faces various challenges, which include high percentages of people living in slums; expansion and dominance of the informal sector; inadequate urban basic services, especially water, sanitation and energy; unplanned peri-urban expansion; social and political conflict over land resources; high levels of vulnerability to disasters; and poor mobility systems. If cities are to play their role as drivers of economic and social development, these challenges have to be addressed through effective planning and governance. This course will provide an overview of urban planning to address those challenges and make a city smart and sustainable. In addition, this course will show the urban planning experiences of Asian Cities.

SUP202: Urban Space Design

This subject aims to introduce the concept, role, and various basic theories of urban design. The course explains how urban design decisions on different scales (a small public space, an urban block, a street network, a district layout and a new town development) are interrelated and can fundamentally impact the experience of places and quality of life. Upon completion of this class, students can understand and apply the role of urban design in the urban studies.

SUP203: Urban History- Theory and Practice

This subject aims to help students understand the history of urban planning in the context of urban and civilization history. In this subject, students learn how people have developed and transformed cities, in what background urban planning was born, and how has cities developed up to the present day.

SUP204: History of the City

This is a basic course in urban location theory. The course involves the analysis of both classical and contemporary theories in urban geography. Students learn the theory of the urban settlement system, location of industries, companies, and households, and land use change prediction for urban planning and real estate development.

SUP205: Urban Environment Issues

The purpose of this course is to comprehensively understand the theories related to urban environmental issues and cases of sustainable city. In this class students will review environmental issues related to urban climate change, learn various planning methods for the sustainable urban environments.

YEAR 2: Semester 2

SUP206: Land-use Planning

This subject deals with the theory and practice of urban land use planning. In this subject, students learn the progress of land use planning and related techniques and learn practical applicability through case studies. Especially, students learn the specific land use planning for residential, commercial, and industrial areas, as well as PUD​ (Planned Urban Development)

SUP207: Basic Urban Design Practices

The purpose of this course is to help students understand the basic elements for urban design practice and practice to design for actual sites. This subject consists largely of two parts; the theory of basic elements (density, scale, urban form, site survey, and regulation) that constitute urban design, and the practice of applying design elements to the actual site.

SUP208: Regional Planning

The purpose of this subject is to acquire knowledge and techniques for planning geographical units larger than cities. In this subject, students understand the concept of regional planning, planning procedures, planning system, governance, implementation and evaluation system methods of regional analysis and planning, as well as issues about resident participation, regional inequality, and the economic impact of infrastructure development. Selected sector plans of the comprehensive plans such as urban, industrial location, transportation and housing will be reviewed. The course will address key concepts and theories on regional development first, followed by the examples of regional policies. Main contents and background of policies and plans for area-wide, city-regions, economic regions as well as underdeveloped areas will be reviewed. Policy frameworks for balanced national development will cover governance, planning, financing, implementation and evaluation system.

SUP209: Introduction to Infrastructure Planning

The purpose of this subject is to teach the establishment of transportation and infrastructure plans for sustainable development. In the case of developing countries, infrastructure development is very important, and in particular, sustainable infrastructure development should be made. Accordingly, this subject teaches basic understanding of transportation, water and sewage, and waste such as roads and railroads, as well as planning methods for sustainable development.

YEAR3: Semester 1

SUP301: Sustainable Urban Transportation

The objectives of this subject are to understand the environmental impact of transportation of people and goods and transportation infrastructure, and to enhance the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of environmental transportation policies (traffic inhibition measures, prices, etc.). The subject also aims to make students understand that urban planning has the potential to bring positive changes to the environment in the movement of people/goods.

SUP302: Infrastructure Development and Planning

The purpose of this subject is for students to learn the concept and significance of Social Overhead Capital (SOC) and to understand the SOC development policies and strategies. To this end, student will study infrastructure development methods and cases, such as supply systems and financing plans for each infrastructure facility.

SUP303: Urban and Regional Economics

This course introduces space into economic models and studies some of the major economic and social problems facing cities. Subjects covered include why cities exist, why some cities thrive or decline, why certain parts of metropolitan areas grow more rapidly than others, how firms and households decide where to locate within given metropolitan areas, what determines the price of land, and how these land prices vary across space. We will also examine major urban problems such as poverty, crime, housing, and transportation.

SUP304: Urban Administration and Finance

This course aims to teach students about the roles and function of urban government which is the main agent of solving urban problems. So, it will firstly explain the administration and finance system of urban government. Secondly it will discuss about urban public service which is the benefits from solving urban problems. Thirdly it will introduce the ideal policy- making process to solve urban problems and produce beneficial urban public service Finally. it will suggest electronic government based on intelligence technology DNA (Data, Network, AI).

SUP305: Sustainable Disaster Management

The aim of this course is to provide students with insights and skills they need to manage natural and man-made disasters based on understanding of the link between development and disaster. This subject covers urban risk assessment methods to assess urban disaster and climate risk to assist decision-making of urban planning for natural hazard. Through this course, students learn how to plan risks from natural disasters and climate change and manage these disasters by trying to build sustainable resilience in communities and institutions.

YEAR3: Semester 2

SUP306: Housing and Land Policy

Supplying enough housing and land to stabilize market price is important for living and economic activities of people in most countries. In particular, many developing countries have experienced or are experiencing various housing and land problems caused by imbalance between supply and demand, shortage of developed land and affordable housing, low quality of housing stock, etc. To tackle these problems the government has made enormous efforts by introducing a variety of policy measures including taxation, finance, regulative measures, etc. This course is designed to provide students for opportunities to explore many policy issues related to housing and land mainly focusing on cases.

SUP307: Urban Real Estate Development

This course will investigate the development factors of regions of real estate development, and the proper methods for project accomplishment through representative financial and economic analysis for project planning. Focusing on real estate development, this course will help students become a real urban developer by examining feasibility analyses, market analyses, prices and locations needed for development procedures, property scales, development demands.

SUP308: Public-Private Partnership for Infrastructure

This subject introduces theoretical and practical knowledge of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) so that students can understand the PPP infrastructure development and develop business structures for PPP projects. Instructor also introduces case studies of PPP projects in various countries. In this class, students will learn the basic concept, business structure, and process of PPP, and financial feasibility with various institutional environments through presentation and discussion of PPP project cases.

SUP309: Urban Environment Analysis

In this subject, students will be able to understand the impact of environmental factors such as air pollution, noise, energy consumption, microclimate, biotope, and land cover on spatial planning. In particular, this subject allows students to establish eco-friendly urban planning through lectures on how to comprehensively evaluate the impact of urban planning factors such as land use, transportation facilities, and infrastructure on environmental factors

SUP310: Spatial Analysis for Urban Planners

The purpose of this course is to provide students advanced knowledge in Geographic Information System (GIS) and spatial statistical analysis as tools for public policy decision making. GIS technology has been employed particularly for local governments’ policy decision making processes balancing key values such as efficiency, equity, community viability, and environmental quality. This course begins with surveying the application of GIS for decision support for public policymaking. Then, the course moves to univariate descriptive and multivariate spatial analysis. The course ends by analyzing various urban issues focusing on the key values in public policy makings with spatial perspectives.

YEAR 4: Semester 1

SUP401: Urban Planning Practices

This subject aims to learn a practical method for establishing an urban comprehensive plan based on the theory and methodology of urban planning and other related subjects. In this class, students will learn land-use planning through population prediction and location analysis, method of establishing urban spatial structure for urban comprehensive plan. In addition, students will learn urban regulation and urban financial management plan for the urban planning and development.

SUP402: Smart City Planning and Development

As smart cities spread, cities are gradually becoming huge smart devices that apply so-called fourth industrial revolution technologies such as IoT, AI (artificial intelligence), and big data. In-depth understanding and consideration of the changes of lives in the city are required as well as knowledge and experience in various fields of urban planning. Sustainability and smart city technology are emerging as future technologies to solve various urban problems such as population overcrowding, environmental pollution, resource depletion, and suburbanization that are emerging recently. This lecture deals with various issues in these future cities and various techniques to solve them. Through this lecture, students will acquire various urban theories, urban planning techniques and elemental skills related to smart cities and have the knowledge to plan and design future cities.

SUP403: Site Planning

In order to create a physical urban environment, urban design practice is required. The purpose of this subject is for students to design site planning for residential site, commercial site, and industrial site. In this class, students will learn theories and practices according to the site planning process and improve design capabilities through creating several design projects.

SUP404: Urban Growth Management

There are various urban problems arising from growth of cities. This subject deals with a planned approach to solving them. This allows students to understand urban growth management policies and to establish management measures in consideration of different aspects of urban growth management such as financial, population, political, economic, social, cultural, transportation, public facilities, housing, and land.

SUP405: Urban Research Methods

Urban planners develop plans for various sectors. Their responsibilities require skills of retrieving, analyzing and presenting data. The purpose of this subject is to help students understand the research methods of urban planning. Also, students will learn how to adapt statistical analysis for the urban thesis and report.

SUP406: Urban Tourism and Preservation

In this subject, students will understand the creation and development of urban place as an urban culture, and based on it, they will learn practical ways to develop and preserve culture of community and historical urban elements by urban planning and design regulations.

YEAR 4: Semester 2

SUP407: Group Research

The purpose of this course is that students complete a planning course to select actual sites and present urban planning, or design ideas based on urban planning knowledge. Students are required to produce a final research report related to their areas of concentration under the guidance of their supervisors. Students are expected to apply appropriate urban planning skills to address a spatial issue of urbanism creatively and critically. In research report course students concentrate on the identification of an existing urban planning issue and focus on the development of an urban planning that addresses this issue to achieve more sustainable and creative solutions.

SUP408: Thesis

Students are required to produce a final thesis related to their areas of concentration under the guidance of their supervisors. Students are expected to apply appropriate skills and research methodologies to comprehend and analyze the causes of the identified urban problem and appraise and formulate creative and sustainable policy, planning, design, or management solutions. Student concentrates on the identification of a research problem, the formulation of a theoretical framework and proposal writing, including the research design and data collection methods, and aims at data analysis, interpretation of research results and thesis writing.​

Contact Info

Program coordinator

Thuon Try, PhD
PhD in Social Sciences (majoring in urban studies)
HP: (855) 12 439 693

Scholarship

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