In both the U.S. and Canada, planning programs are built around core skills and competencies that reflect the ethics and responsibilities of the profession. As a student, you’ll take a blend of social and physical science classes while gaining hands-on experience, often working directly with communities and real-world projects.
You’ll learn how to analyze data, get a unique understanding of how places are established and grow, and bring people together around important conversations. Your coursework will not only prepare you for a planning career, it will empower you to make a lasting impact on the places people call home.
Take a glimpse of some of the common classes you might take as you pursue your education in urban planning.
Discover the roots of urban planning and ideas that guide its future.
Learn how development is planned, zoned, and regulated.
Find strategies for environmentally responsible and resilient places.
Study sociology and how people interact with an environment.
Understand how planning impacts fairness, access, and opportunity.
Apply planning and design skills to solve real-world challenges.
Urban planning programs place a strong emphasis on ethics. When you study urban planning, you’ll learn how to navigate complex decisions with integrity and fairness. Programs are guided by the American Institute of Certified Planners’ Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct and the Canadian Institute of Planners’ Code of Professional Conduct.
Both codes require planners to make ethical judgments in the public interest while balancing many agendas, respecting the diversity of needs, promoting equity, and allowing for public participation in continuous, open debate. It’s vital for future planners to recognize the importance of building communities that are inclusive, just, and built for everyone.
The accredited programs in Canada and the U.S. are required to show that a set of core urban planning courses meet certain guidelines. Click the tabs below to see what those programs are required to teach.
| Knowledge | Skills | Values & Ethics |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose & Meaning of Planning | Written, Oral & Graphic Communication | Professional Ethics & Responsibility |
| Planning Theory | Quantitative & Qualitative Methods | Equity, Diversity & Social Justice |
| Planning Law | Plan Creation & Implementation | Governance & Paticipation |
| Human Settlements | Planning Process Methods | Sustainability & Environmental Quality |
| History of Planning the Future | Leadership | Growth & Development |
| Global Dimensions of Planning | Health & Built Environment |
| Human Settlements | History & Principles | Government & Law | Issues in planning & Policy-Making | Processes of Planning & Policy-Making | Plan & Policy Implementation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forms, scales & settings | History of planning in Canada & abroad | Political & institutional frameworks | Environmental, social & economic sustainability | Visioning, goal-setting & problem-framing | Regulatory tools |
| Processes & factors of change | Planning theories, principles & practices | Planning laws | Equity, diversity & inclusiveness | Information gathering & analysis | Fiscal/financial tools |
| Planning ethics | Governance & participation | Public finance & economics | Public consultation & deliberation | Design & management of public projects | |
| New developments in planning | Land use, design & infrastructure | Monitoring & evaluation |
| Critical & Creative Thinking | Social Interaction & Leadership | Communication | Professionalism |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gathering & analyzing quantitative & qualitative data | Mediation, facilitation & conflict resolution | Written communication | Managing complexity, uncertainty & change |
| Identifying patterns & trends | Inclusion of diverse people & values | Oral communication | Learning from practice |
| Thinking at various geographic scales | Team-work & team-building | Graphic communication | Handling ethical dilemmas |
| Designing scenarios & plans | Relations to bosses, officials & the public | Information technology |