Is anyone a town planner? DS interested.

[vivariumvivariumsvivaria]

DS 17, bright but without focus is interested in being a town planner.

Seems you need a degree and a postgrad.

DS is capable - but, you know, no focus. Is there a way of being an auxiliary town planner, without a degree but with potential to get a bloody grip a taste of the job?

You can become a planning technician/ admin and some employers might pay for the degree. Alternatively there’s a new apprenticeship scheme but I don’t know anyone who has gone through this route (yet?): www.rtpi.org.uk/become-a-planner/apprenticeships/

Get him to contact your local council, they might be happy to have him for a week or two over the school holidays to do work experience to see if he enjoys the job?

What are his subjects of interest/ gcses?

There are so many avenues in the built environment.

Planner, Architect, Landscape Architect, Land or Buildings Surveyor, Quantity Surveyor, Draftsman, Technician, Engineer, and then all the more niche specialities which follow from these broad topics - ecologist, horticulturalist, arboriculturalist, Tree Officer, LVIA specialist, interior designer, lighting engineer, consultant, project manager, BIM data coordinator, GIS Mapping, CDM coordinator etc. The list is endless.

And all the technologies which may appeal to a 17yo interested in computers - CAD technician, 3D renderer & modelling specialist, VR walk through visualisations etc.

Training in all these areas can be quite expensive if you do them individually so I wouldn't write off a degree course as it can give you a broad taster of all the different areas and access to explore them further.

If hes interested in the topic its unlikely he will be bored if he finds the right course which is broad enough and flexible enough.

Amazing, thank you so much.

He's a bit of a conundrum. He's academically bright but scatty. Finds it difficult to organise his time and so his grades do not reflect his ability. He's got potential for Bs and maybe a couple of As - Scottish system so he's doing Highers. Currently sitting with Cs and probably Bs but he'd be able to resit and pull his grades up next year if need be. he's also (finally) agreed to have an ADHD assessment.

He's good at and enjoys CDT, English, Geography
He'll scrape a pass in Chemistry
Maths is a disaster - resit next year.

He's creative but doesn't have ANY drawing skills - he draws like a toddler so that rules a lot o stuff out. He does the design bits of CDT on an iPad, so that's a great idea about the CAD etc, he's not done that but it would probably hold his attention.

He's got a strong sense of social justice, I rambled on about CCP's Invisible Women book's bit about the transport system not accommodating the way women use it and about the Make Space For Girls campaign because playgrounds are sexist, and about how toilets are a total disaster zone and we need more female architects - and he's absorbed it.

He's got good insight into how infrastructure presents challenges for people with disabilities, that someone could manage to travel independently if there were fewer stairs, better visual prompts etc.

I'll do some googling, thanks so much.

You don’t need to draw to be a town planner, it’s mostly done by architects/ draftsman. Most planners prepare/ assess planning applications (you work your way up from extensions to bigger projects), very few work in the infrastructure realm (maybe surveyor will be a better match?) and even fewer work in regeneration. I think he needs to look more into the the whole build environment sector and see what interests him.

Thank you. He's got an appointment with the career's person, so that'll help.

He'd originally fancied architecture but he's not got the grades or pencil skills. I didn't know the breadth of related stuff, so this has been really helplful.

You can tell this isn't my field...

You barely need drawing skills these days.

I dont think planner will suit him tbh. Its very book, law, legislation orientated and a lot of admin.

If he didnt get the grades for Architecture look at Landscape Architecture - its a much wider course IMO and covers planning, regional and local masterplanning, geography all the way down to small scale design and a lot of niches. Its much more interesting IMO and 'its everything under the sky'. So that includes buildings in masterplanning but they design the layout and the shell concepts rather than the boring nitty gritty.

It's hard to get into as many come from in house. Best thing is to find an apprenticeship in that or a related area.

I loved my time as a Council planner - I worked in development control so dealt with applications for planning permission. I loved the variety and the fact I could get out on site visits so wasn't permanently tied to the desk. I never fancied the policy side which was more desk bound.

Have a look at the RTPI website - the Royal Town Planning Institute.

I did a geography degree and then did a post grad in planning on a day release basis, paid for by my employer.

Oh yes, thank you, @LemonSwan. That is much more like him - he's better with concepts and lateral thinking than with detail.

He'd understand the importance of a millimetre, but accidentally transpose the mm for m in a spread sheet. I wouldn't want him to build anything that could fall down. But, he'd know where to put the bridge to make it improve the infrastructure.

He is very cross about Musk's tunnel for Teslas in LA - thinks that poor people could have used that to get to jobs and schooling. Which I thought was a mature analysis for a 17 year old.

@Keepitonthedownlow

It's hard to get into as many come from in house. Best thing is to find an apprenticeship in that or a related area.

Can't find any in Scotland. But, it might be best for him to do something related for a year or two and then he could go and train away from home.

He's not quite independent enough to leave yet. It's improving, but his big sister was a different kettle of fish...

I does sound like larger scale design and masterplanning might be a good fit.

Dw! Anything with the potential to kill anyone gets sent to the Structural Engineers anyway - for Architects and Landscape Architects alike.

And the mm/ m business - we only use mm as standard so a metre is always 1000 to avoid any dramas like that.

And 99% of the time people work in studio, so its teams which design not just one individual responsible. Everything is checked and checked again.

If he gets muddled a bit does he have dyslexia? Because I know many very successful Architects and LAs with dyslexia - its not a bar for entry to the profession at all.

No, not dyslexic, I don't think so anyway. Spelling is ok, writing is a bit like a chicken strutted across the page though. Doesn't read for pleasure.

Interesting, I might have a wee look at that, there's lots of neurodiversity in the family.

Have sent you a PM OP