List of top 10 Urban Planning School Rankings (as per Planetizen Rankings system). Top 10 Urban Planning School Rankings is based on a combination of statistical data collected from the programs themselves and opinion data gathered from planning educators by Planetizen. Urban, city, and town.

1. Peterson's Guide To Graduate Programs
2. Petersons Guide To Graduate Study
3. Guide To Graduate Engineering Programs

Planetizen is a planning-related news website owned by Urban Insight of Los Angeles, California. It features user-submitted and editor-evaluated news and weekly user-contributed op-eds about urban planning and several related fields. The website also publishes an annual list of the top 10 books in the field published during the current year, and a directory and ranking of graduate-level education in the field of urban planning.

The name of the website is a concatenation of Plan, as in the word, planning, and Netizen, a portmanteau of Internet and citizen.^[1] The website self-reports that it is visited by 1.5 million unique visitors each year.^[2]

In 2006, the website also started publishing books, including the first urban planning book for children, Where Things Are, From Near to Far, published in 2008 by Planetizen Press. This book was reviewed by The New York Times.^[3] Their 2007 book 'Planetizen's Contemporary Debates in Urban Planning', [1] a collection of brief essays published by Island Press, received positive reviews.^[4]

• 2Innovations and Debates

Contributions[edit]

Planetizen introduced a much-needed broader perspective on city planning in the US, which very often extends into international practice as well. Coming out of the very formal car-oriented planning philosophy and practice following the Second World War, American urbanism risked becoming a dinosaur as it missed all the exciting New Urbanist practices being implemented. The great value of Planetizen was to juxtapose ALL planning practice and let readers judge the effectiveness of each idea. Coming as it did in the internet age, it provided, and continues to provide, an extremely useful central location for urbanists and planners to follow what is happening around the world. More than any other site, Planetizen is a clearing house of planning ideas, and its inclusivity without any ideological prejudice is both refreshing and invaluable.

Innovations and Debates[edit]

Suburban Sprawl[edit]

The major problem in developed economies is surely sprawl and its energy-devouring urban morphology. Planetizen has broadly championed the New Urbanist solutions while juxtaposing a variety of alternatives and criticisms. This interplay lays the groundwork for facing a difficult problem. Debate on Planetizen juxtaposes practical concerns of developers and government entities with the need for more sustainable urban fabric. Developers who build Sprawl are being educated towards new strategies for a more livable suburbia.

Informal Settlements[edit]

In the Developing World, the major problem facing both economies and governments lies in owner-built settlements, favelas, villas miserias, gecekondu, or slums by any other name. Here the debate is more difficult to access, because for a long time, the problems and solutions found in informal settlements have been either ignored or misinterpreted by mainstream planners. Solutions to this exponentially growing problem are not obvious. Planetizen has commendably brought attention to this other side of urbanism, so often ignored by the urban planning schools. For example, it sponsored a discussion on the Bombay slum Dharavi, which brought the topic of slum clearance versus upgrading to worldwide attention.^[5]

Skyscrapers/Tall Buildings[edit]

World economies and major construction companies are driven in part by building megaprojects, the most prominent component of which is one or more skyscrapers. Planetizen has opened up the debate on skyscrapers more than once. A city has to balance the drive to build high, using high-tech, with the theoretical objections that skyscrapers drain the resources and energy from the region in which they are implanted. New skyscrapers are claimed to be ecosustainable, but those claims have as many critics as they have proponents. Again, there is a need for a broad debate, and Planetizen contains many different and dissenting viewpoints on the question of skyscrapers as a viable building typology.

Criticism[edit]

Planetizen is often criticized for running news stories or user-contributed op-eds that are critical of current urban planning practices. Planetizen is also criticized by some urban planning educators in higher education for ranking graduate-level urban planning programs in the Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Education.^[6]

Timeline[edit]

• February 2000 - Planetizen is created.
• August 2000 - First contributed op-ed, by Anthony Downs^[7]
• February 2001 - Site recognized with an award for use of technology by the American Planning Association.
• September 2001 - James Howard Kunstler and Nikos A. Salingaros call for the end of skyscrapers in response to September 11 attacks, in an article on Planetizen, The End of Tall Buildings
• November 2002 - First annual review of top 10 books in the field of urban planning
• February 2005 - Planetizen moves to the Drupal web publishing platform and documents the migration in an article for Linux Journal.^[8]
• March 2006 - Planetizen associate editor Nate Berg begins weekly podcast about weekly urban planning issues.
• June 2006 - Planetizen Press publishes first ranking of graduate-level urban planning programs.
• May 2008 - Planetizen Press publishes second ranking of graduate-level urban planning programs.
• October 2009 - Planetizen publishes a list of the top 100 urban thinkers, as voted on by visitors to the website.
• April 2011 - Planetizen publishes a list of the top 25 thinkers in urban planning and technology
• May 2011 - Planetizen publishes 2012 ranking of graduate-level urban planning programs.
• October 2014 - Planetizen publishes 2015 ranking of graduate-level urban planning programs.
• February 2015 - Planetizen launches the first video courses focused on educating urban planners.
• June 2017 - Planetizen publishes 4th Edition ranking of graduate-level urban planning programs.
• October 2017 - Planetizen publishes a list of the 100 most influentian urbanists.
• May 2018 - Planetizen publishes Urban Design for Planners by Emily Talen.

Editors[edit]

The site was created in February 2000 by co-editors in chief Abhijeet Chavan and Chris Steins. In 2005 David Gest was appointed the first managing editor. Subsequent managing editors have included Christian Peralta Madera (2006), Timothy Halbur (2008), Jonathan Nettler, AICP (2012) and James Brasuell (2014).^[9]

Planetizen Press[edit]

Planetizen Press is the publishing arm of Planetizen, and has published several print books.

• Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs, 4th Edition. Published by Planetizen Press (2014).
• Unsprawl: Remixing Spaces as Places. Published by Planetizen Press (2013).
• Planetizen 2012 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs. Published by Planetizen Press (May, 2011).
• Insider's Guide to Careers in Urban Planning. Published by Planetizen Press (November, 2009).
• Where Things Are, from Near to Far: A Children's book about urban planning. Published by Planetizen Press (December, 2008).
• Planetizen 2009 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs. Published by Planetizen Press (May, 2008).
• Planetizen 2007 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs. Published by Planetizen Press (June, 2006).

Notes[edit]

1. ^Planetizen Frequently asked questions page
2. ^Planetizen Advertising page.
3. ^My First Book of Urban Planning, published by The New York Times on February 20, 2009.
4. ^Book review by Patrick S. McGovern in Canadian Journal of Urban Research
5. ^Dharavi: India's Model Slum
6. ^UCLA Professor Randall Crane explains problems with the Planetizen ranking of graduate urban planning programs on his blog, in a post, Ranking Urban Planning Programs.
7. ^First user-contributed op-ed on Planetizen: California Housing Policies Create Slums, by Anthony Downs.
8. ^Migrating to Drupal, by Abhijeet Chavan and Michael Jelks. Published September 30, 2005 in Linux Journal
9. ^Planetizen staff page.

External links[edit]

Urban planning education is a practice of teaching and learning urban theory, studies, and professional practices. The interaction between public officials, professional planners and the public involves a continuous education on planning process. Community members often serve on a city planning commission, council or board. As a result, education outreach is effectively an ongoing cycle.

Formal education is offered as an academic degree in urban, city or regional planning, and awarded as a bachelor's degree, master's degree, or doctorate.

Since planning programs are usually small, they tend not to be housed in distinct 'planning schools' but rather, as part of an architecture school, a design school, a geography department, or a public policy school, since these are cognate fields. Generally speaking, planning programs in architecture schools focus primarily on physical planning and design, while those in policy schools tend to focus on policy and administration.

As urban planning is such a broad and interdisciplinary field, a typical planning degree program emphasizes breadth over depth, with core coursework that provides background for all areas of planning. Core courses typically include coursework in history/theory of urban planning, urban design, statistics, land use/planning law, urban economics, and planning practice. Many planning degree programs also allow a student to 'concentrate' in a specific area of interest within planning, such as land use, environmental planning, housing, community development, economic development, historic preservation, international development, urban design, transportation planning, or geographic information systems (GIS). Some programs permit a student to concentrate in real estate, however, graduate real estate education has changed giving rise to specialized real estate programs.

• 3Accreditation in North America
  • 3.1Accredited planning programs
• 5Rankings

Bachelor's degree in urban planning[edit]

Bachelor of Planning (B.Plan) is an undergraduate academic degree designed to train applicants in various aspects of designing, engineering, managing and resolving challenges related to urban human settlements. It is awarded for a course of study that lasts up to four years and contextual to modern challenges of urbanisation. It goes into the techniques and theories related to settlement design starting at the site planning level of a neighbourhood and moving up to the regional city planning context. Understanding relations between built forms and the citizens in cities and rural areas, and their implications on local environment, supporting utilities, transport networks, and physical infrastructure forms the core of the planning course. With an engineering orientation, the graduates emerging as urban planners are equipped with not only tools for rational comprehensive planning but also participatory and social development.

The degree may be awarded as a Bachelor of Arts in Geography with an emphasis in urban planning, Bachelor of Arts in Urban Planning, or Bachelor of Science in Urban and Regional Planning. The distinction reflects university policies, or some universities may have greater course offerings in urban planning, design, sociology, or a related degree.

Master of Urban Planning[edit]

The Master of Urban Planning (MUP) is a two-year academic/professional master's degree that qualifies graduates to work as urban planners. Some schools offer the degree as a Master of City Planning (MCP), Master of Community Planning, Master of Regional Planning (MRP), Master of Town Planning (MTP), Master of Planning (MPlan), Master of Environmental Planning (MEP) or in some combination of the aforementioned (e.g., Master of Urban and Regional Planning), depending on the program's specific focus. Some schools offer a Master of Arts or Master of Science in Planning. Regardless of the name, the degree remains generally the same.

A thesis, final project or capstone project is usually required to graduate. Additionally, an internship component is almost always mandatory due to the high value placed on work experience by prospective employers in the field.

Like most professional master's degree programs, the MUP is a terminal degree. However, some graduates choose to continue on to doctoral studies in urban planning or cognate fields. The Ph.D. is a research degree, as opposed to the professional MUP, and thus focuses on training planners to engage in scholarly activity directed towards providing greater insight into the discipline and underlying issues related to urban development.

Accreditation in North America[edit]

Accreditation is a system for recognizing educational institutions and professional programs affiliated with those institutions for a level of performance, integrity, and quality.^[1] The Planning Accreditation Board is the sole accreditor of planning programs in the United States. The Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) accredits graduate and undergraduate planning programs in the United States and Canada.^[2]

As of January 1, 2016, PAB accredits 15 undergraduate programs and 71 graduate programs in 75 North America Universities.

The Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) accredits university programs in North America leading to bachelors and masters degrees in planning. The accreditation process is based on standards approved by the PAB and its sponsoring organizations: the American Planning Association (APA); the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) (the professional planners’ institute within the American Planning Association); and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP).^[2]

Graduation from a PAB accredited program allows a graduate to sit for the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Certification Exam earlier in their career than a student with a degree from a non-accredited program or school.

Programs that desire accreditation through the PAB must apply for candidacy status. The program seeking candidacy must demonstrate that they meet the five preconditions to accreditation.^[3] The five preconditions are:^[4]

• Program graduation of at least 25 students in the degree.
• Program's parent institution must be accredited by an institutional accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).
• Formal title of program and degree offered must include the term 'Planning'.
• Undergraduate programs must offer 4 full-time years of study or equivalent, while graduate programs must be 2 full-time years of study or equivalent.
• Program's primary goal is to educate students to become practicing planning professionals.

Once the preconditions have successfully been met by the program, the program must complete and submit a Self-Study Report.^[5] Through the Self-Study Report, the program assesses their performance and compliance with PAB's accreditation standards. This report serves as the basis of review for the Planning Accreditation Board, along with a formal meeting with the Program Administrator at the Board meeting.^[3]

If candidacy is awarded, the Planning Accreditation Board will send a three-member team to visit and formally review the program during a semester. The three member team will meet with faculty, staff, students, and members of the local planning community. The team will then submit a Site Visit Report to the Planning Accreditation Board. During the meeting of the Planning Accreditation Board, the board will review the Self-Study Report, Site Visit Report and other documentation and meet with the Program Administrator. At the conclusion of the meeting, the Board decides if the program is awarded accreditation and the length of accreditation.^[3]

Accreditation length is dependent on the extent the program complies with requirements of the Planning Accreditation Board, with the maximum length awarded is 7 years.^[6] Programs must re-apply for accreditation in the year their accreditation term expires.

Accredited planning programs[edit]

For current information on PAB accredited programs, please visit the Planning Accreditation Board website.

United States of America and Puerto Rico[edit]

Canada[edit]

^{(** candidate for accreditation)}

Accreditation in the Republic of India[edit]

Though Planning as a Profession is not a recognized profession under Indian law, the profession was started long back with School of Planning and Architecture in 1941 as a Department of Architecture of Delhi College of Engineering now the Delhi Technological University. It was later integrated with the School of Town and Country Planning which was established in 1955 by the Government of India to provide facilities for rural, urban and regional planning. On integration, the School was renamed as school of planning and architecture in 1959. Today it is one of the premier schools of pursuing planning studies at bachelor, masters and post doctorate levels.The Institute of Town Planners, India set up on the lines of the [Royal Town Planning Institute, London] is the body representing planning professionals in India. A small group formed itself into an Indian Board of Town Planners which after three years of continuous work formed the Institute of Town Planners, India. The Institute which was established in July 1951, Today, has a membership of over 2,800, apart from a sizable number of student members, many of whom have qualified Associateship Examination (AITP) conducted by ITPI.Institutes under ITPI offers a 4-year undergraduate degree in Planning.

Peterson's Guide To Graduate Programs

| University Of Allahabad| Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh| | PG Diploma in town country Planning|}

Rankings[edit]

Petersons Guide To Graduate Study

United States of America[edit]

While there is no official ranking of the graduate programs for planning, planning-community site Planetizen and college guide Best Colleges publish periodic lists of the Top US planning graduate programs, and the AICP provides a listing of currently- and formerly-accredited programs sorted by proportion of recent graduates passing its certification exam. The Best Colleges and Planetizen top-ranked schools aren't all at the top of the exam pass-rate rankings, but the two guides broadly agree on which schools are best.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Planning Accreditation Board
2. ^ ^abcdefgh'Accredited Planning Programs'. Planning Accreditation Board. 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
3. ^ ^abc'Candidacy Information'. Planning Accreditation Board. 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
4. ^Application for Candidacy Status
5. ^Self-Study Report Manual
6. ^The Accreditation Document, Pg. 38
7. ^ ^abcd'History of Accredited Programs'. Planning Accreditation Board. 2010. Retrieved 27 November 2013.
8. ^'2013 Top Urban Planning Schools'. Best Colleges. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
9. ^'2015 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs'. Planetizen Press. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
10. ^'2012 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs'. Planetizen Press. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
11. ^'2009 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs'. Planetizen Press. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
12. ^'2006 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs'. Planetizen Press. Archived from the original on June 4, 2007. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
13. ^'AICP Exam Pass Rates (2013)'. American Planning Association. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

External links[edit]

Guide To Graduate Engineering Programs