The Department of Town and Regional Planning at DUT welcomed 159 candidates onto its programme this year which included first-year, third-year and BTech students.

This year’s joint orientation was especially exciting for students. “We (the department) wanted students to get to know each other and to see the city (of Durban),” said Robynne Hansmann, Town and Regional Planning Head of Department.

The faculty office (Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment) teamed up with the eThekwini Municipality to give students a tour of the city in the local Rickshaw Bus. The three hour long trip took students throughout the city and ended off at the Botanic Gardens where students enjoyed bunny chows. Hansmann believes that this tour was essential since “most students are not from the city”.

The eThekwini Municipality assists the department with orientation programmes and is often eager to lecture students on topical issues.

The city tour was not just fun and games but involved the students’ first assignment for the year in which they had to locate themselves on the maps given to them and trace the entire route that they travelled.

Sivuyile Ngumbela, a third-year Town and Regional Planning student said that his passion for geography and population dynamics in secondary school is what prompted him to study towards the profession. “I look forward to realising the relevance of what I have learned and aplying it when working in this field”, said the student.

Hansmann said the greatest attributes of a Town and Regional Planning student are “their looking after the public’s wellbeing, being motivated to work with the community, being sensitive to issues of poverty and also having a desire to improve the city”.

Hansmann says that one of the highlights of the year will be working with the first-years of 2013 since every student is “born free” (born post 1994).

“The faculty is looking forward to working with this new generation of students,” said Hansmann.

– Nikita Smith-Morgan

Pictured: Town and Regional Planning students at DUT get a tour of the city of Durban during their orientation.