Urban & Regional Planning Major / General Information
Urban and regional planners develop programs and policies to guide future growth and redevelopment of urban, suburban, and rural communities. They assist elected officials in solving the social, economic and environmental problems of their communities. The Urban and Regional Planning major attracts students who are interested in learning how to help solve these problems.
What is Urban & Regional Planning?
Everybody plans. Planning involves thinking ahead or organizing to get things done. Urban and regional planning deals with the problems that people have holding their communities together, coping with the pressures of urbanization and development, and trying to provide an opportunity for everyone--especially the poor and disadvantaged--to improve their lives.
Objectives of the program include:
- To adapt and integrate the concepts and techniques of the many disciplines to work on contemporary urban problems.
- To provide a foundation upon which students can build a course of graduate study in urban planning, urban affairs, and the social and environmental sciences.
- To provide a general but systematic background for students who intend to assume positions in the urban professions without further formal education.
- To provide students with an opportunity to test the feasibility of a variety of alternative urban policies.
What are the Requirements for Urban & Regional Planning?
The Urban and Regional Planning Major is an interdepartmental program administered by the Department of Geography. Students choose courses from a variety of departments, including architecture, economics, political science, sociology and anthropology, statistics, and systems analysis, as well as geography. The required courses are divided into three groups:
- Planning principles and issues. These courses present the planning discipline's core concepts and introduce important social, economic, and administrative aspects of planning.
- Analytic techniques for planning. These courses present key analytic techniques used by urban and regional planners and apply them to planning problems.
- Concentration in specialized planning track. These courses provide an opportunity to take additional courses in a subfield of planning of particular interest to the student.
Urban and Regional Planning majors are required to complete a minimum of 40 semester hours of courses. Normally this will amount to 12-13 courses. A grade point average of at least 2.0 is needed both in the major and overall at Miami University in order to graduate. Courses for the major may not be taken credit/no credit, with the exception of GEO 340.
Classes should be selected in consultation with an Urban and Regional Planning adviser. Students should refer to the attached list of courses, but the actual offerings may change somewhat from year to year. It is therefore strongly recommended that students consult with their adviser concerning the precise courses which will fulfill the various requirements for the major. Students are also urged to check with a divisional adviser in Upham Hall during their junior year. Remember that ultimately it is the student's responsibility to meet the university, divisional, and departmental requirements.
Geography majors may take this major, but it does not substitute for the Miami Plan Thematic Sequence requirement.
What do Planning Majors do with their degree?
Graduates with a BA in Urban and Regional Planning usually do one of two things: some go to graduate school for a master's degree and others find planning jobs. Some people find that the additional training offered by graduate schools is useful in pursuing a career in planning, although a master's degree is not required in order to secure a job. The American Planning Association publishes a guide to all recognized graduate programs in urban and regional planning in North America. The guide is particularly useful in helping students match their interests to the specialties of the different schools.
For those graduates who prefer to secure a job in planning, opportunities exist in a variety of places. Planning takes place in public, non-profit, and private settings. At the local government level, municipal redevelopment, planning, public works, housing, and transportation departments are concerned about regulating the development of housing, roads, industry, and recreational spaces, as well as social services such as health care and education. State planners may be involved in the formulation of environmental policy and administration of transportation, housing, community development, criminal justice, and other programs. Regional planners work with public agencies, councils of government, and special districts to coordinate the activities of local government.
Non-profit groups are concerned with the provision of modestly priced housing and other social services. Private consulting firms and divisions of major corporations plan the location of new facilities, the application of new technology, and the appropriate policies for local governments.
The "typical" Miami Urban and Regional Planning graduate has found a planning job in a Midwestern small town, county or other local government. About one-third go to graduate school in planning, especially to Ohio State. Recent graduates hold planning jobs with Milford and Oxford cities, Cuyahoga and Licking counties, Burgess and Niple, and Strategic Edge consultants.
Why Choose Urban & Regional Planning?
Planners are concerned with a variety of national policy issues: the revitalization of deteriorating central cities and depressed rural areas, the provision of new and affordable housing, the inclusion of citizens in decision-making, the need to combat pollution and conserve scarce resources, the problems of designing more efficient public services, and the search for solutions to long-standing social problems such as discrimination and inequality.
The Urban and Regional Planning program at Miami offers a combination of academic theory and practical techniques to enhance the student's ability to understand the complex urban environment. Students should be both dedicated to the enhancement of the urban environment and willing to learn in an interdisciplinary academic structure. Planners believe that problems can be solved through the commitment of skilled professionals. The Urban and Regional Planning major is designed for students with such a spirit of commitment.