Abstract:
Possible adaptations in education and training are discussed in the light of the
role to be played by surveying and town planning in a world in which the
enormous increase in urban populations is regarded as a very serious problem.
Two aspects, namely the size of the earth and the utilization of its surface,
constitute the basic study material of the two disciplines and, in the space-age,
are the fields of application of the tensors of mathematics and the sensor
systems which must provide the necessary information. The present age
confronted geodesy with a great deal of modernisation, and the classical
process could not, for example, deal readily with satellite geodesy. Tensor
analysis is essentially a method of mathematical geodesy. The process of
technological progress has effected every sphere of surveying, and it is indeed
a very impressive range of new methods and techniques that has become
established. It is against this background that the task of the Department
should be seen.
"Planning", should be noted, is not only a physical exercise in land use
allocation but, with social and economic aspects, forms the well-known trilogy
of planning.
In a world in which different growth systems are possible, the task of the
planner will be to find new patterns and new relationships, especially as
regards problems connected with the use of energy. Planning requires a finely
detailed substantive theory to provide a full understanding of the environment.
Our education programme has a strong orientation towards practical requirements,
but we feel that the theoretical basis must also be strengthened.
Our program of education and training has two aims: the development of
knowledge and the development of ability — the ability to apply the knowledge
to the processes of surveying and planning; to become and stay
operational in an ever-changing world.