Program Overview

City and Regional Planning Program

The City and Regional Planning program is offered by the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. City and regional planners help people and communities manage growth and change in their physical, social, and economic environments. They focus on understanding how cities and towns function and how to make them better places for people to live and prosper.

Program Description

City and regional planning is both a science and an art with roots in engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, law, social welfare, and government reform. The curriculum focuses on building these skills in foundational planning courses as well as hands-on studio courses and internships.

Curriculum

The program teaches students to combine technical competence, creativity, and pragmatism to develop and build a vision of the future. The interdisciplinary program places an emphasis on hands-on experiences, community outreach, and applied research. Community-based studios provide real-world planning experiences and an opportunity to make a difference in California communities.

Hands-on Learning

Hands-on studio courses give students direct experience in community development and plan-making projects. Students engage in real-world problem-solving and evaluate the fabric of cities at different scales from the project site, to the surrounding city and region. This gives students a cross-sectional set of experiences in dealing with planning issues throughout the state and nation. Through internships with public and private agencies, students develop additional career-building experience in a wide range of planning fields from urban design to transportation planning.

Facilities and Resources

The program has access to various facilities and resources, including:

• CAED Plot Center: offers large-format plotting for individual and class-based projects
• CAED Shops and the Digital Fabrication Lab (dFab): hosts a metal shop, wood shop, and fabrication lab with laser cutters, computer numerical control (CNC) machines, and 3D printers
• CAED Tech Support: provides technical support for computer labs, on-site printing, and other computer-related areas
• Concrete Yard: an experimental assembly and project use area
• Experimental Practices Laboratory: a nine-acre outdoor laboratory for large-scale structures designed and built by students
• Neel Resource Center (NRC): provides access to architecture and environmental design-related resources
• Photo Presentation Facility: supports document projects, presentation preparation, and digitizing images

City and Regional Planning Minor

The City and Regional Planning minor provides students with an understanding of city planning and the relationships among land use, transportation, housing, and the environment. It includes courses that build skills in the preparation of plan documents, land use studies, and environmental studies, giving students the knowledge, skills, and values to help build better communities and cities.

Career Opportunities

City and regional planning graduates often work in planning areas such as land use, environmental protection, economic development, transportation, community design, housing, and social planning for government organizations, non-profit agencies, or the private sector. Graduates have gone on to work for companies including city governments, Disneyland Resort, KTGY Architecture + Planning, and ICF International. Some graduates have also pursued graduate studies at institutions like Cal Poly, UC Berkeley, Arizona State University, and the University of British Columbia.