Program Overview

Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy, Ph.D.

Overview

The Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy (UEPP) doctoral program at the University of California, Irvine trains scholars for national and international prominence in the analysis of social problems related to the built, natural, and institutional environments. Faculty members and students combine perspectives from urban planning, public policy, and design behavior. The Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy Ph.D. is based on the Departments internationally prominent research and teaching strengths, including design-behavior research, environmental policy, health promotion and policy, and urban and community development.

Program Details

The Ph.D. program consists of four components: course work, comprehensive exams, advancing to candidacy, and dissertation research, writing, and defense. A typical pattern for completion of requirements is the following:

• Years 1 and 2: Take required departmental courses supplemented by electives.
• September after year 2: Take comprehensive exams.
• Year 3: Write and defend dissertation prospectus, advance to candidacy. Begin dissertation.
• Years 46: Dissertation research and writing (students are expected to complete and defend their dissertations within nine quarters of advancing to candidacy). Students must also TA for at least one quarter. The normative time for completion of the Ph.D. in Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy is six years, and the maximum time permitted is seven years.

Requirements

The following courses are required of all students and must be completed before advancement to candidacy:

• Complete the following:
  • UPPP 297 | Research Design
  • UPPP 209 | Qualitative Research Methods: Overview
  • SOCECOL 264A | Data Analysis (or equivalent)
  • UPPP 281 | Theoretical Approaches in Planning and Policy
  • UPPP 275 | Special Topics in Urban Planning
• Complete one advanced research methods course
• Three courses providing disciplinary/theoretical orientation, one of which is Ph.D. course in the Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy
• Two quarters of UPPP 298 or UPPP 299
• Six electives

Career Opportunities

Graduates with a doctorate degree in Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy are employed in a wide array of activities, ranging from university teaching and research, to administrative and research-oriented positions in governmental agencies, international organizations, nonprofit organizations, and private consulting practices.

Concurrent Degree Study

Highly-qualified students interested in combining the study of law and graduate qualifications in Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy are invited to undertake concurrent degree study under the auspices of UC Irvine's Program in Law and Graduate Studies (PLGS). Students in this program pursue a coordinated curriculum leading to a J.D. degree from the School of Law in conjunction with a Ph.D. degree in Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy.