MASTER OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING
Imagine if you could CHANGE the way cities work.
| Urban Planning
YOU CAN.
Welcome to Urban Planning at UCLA.
BUILD CITIES,
or rebuild cities, that are vibrant,
just, and sustainable. | EMPOWER PEOPLE to transform their communities, and themselves. | IMMERSE YOURSELF
in the living laboratory
of Los Angeles: one of the most dynamic and diverse regions of the world.
Opportunity and possibility?
Limitless.
Urban Building Cities and Regions, Empowering Communities Professional planners solve problems at many scales: in neighborhoods, cities, and large-scale regions.
Planning: The Urban Planning profession addresses the delivery and finance of public services, including employment, transportation, housing, open space, the control of pollution and environmental degradation, and the management of resources. Although the origins of the profession are in urban design, civil engineering, and good government, urban planning has evolved into a broad, integrative field concerned with the social and physical organization of society, where planners address economic and social inequities within a cultural and environmental context.
The UCLA Advantage The UCLA Department of Urban Planning is at the intersection of unique academic, regional, geographic, and professional resources that creates a learning environment unlike any other. Los Angeles, one of the most culturally diverse and exciting urban settings in the world, serves as a unique laboratory for faculty and students to study and solve urban issues and problems. The world-class faculty in the department—nationally and internationally recognized scholars and leaders in community development, environmental planning, housing, land development, regional and international development, transportation, and urban design—prepare master’s and doctoral degree students to address the social, economic, and spatial relationships that shape society. Students are prepared not only with cutting-edge skills in planning, but to understand and address deeper questions of planning—What qualities in society do we value most? What is fair? Whose interests are to be served first?—and to help multiple stakeholders understand what is at issue as they forward their own proposals.
Degree Requirements THE MASTER OF URBAN AND REGIONAL PLANNING IS A TWO-YEAR, FULL-TIME DEGREE PROGRAM that is fully accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board, a joint undertaking of the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning. MURP students must complete a minimum of 72 units (18 courses), a minimum of 12 units in each of six quarters. All master’s degree students are expected to take core courses in the history and processes of urbanization, the theories and histories of planning, applied micro-economics, quantitative analysis, law, and applied research design. Professional development and field work are also important components of the master’s program. In the second year, students must complete a thesis or applied planning research capstone project (individually or as part of a group). Students also select one or more areas of concentration from among: • • • • •
Community Economic Development and Housing Design and Development Environmental Analysis and Policy Regional and International Development Transportation Policy and Planning
Practitioners and Change Agents: Urban Planning Students UCLA Urban Planning Students come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and are attracted to the diversity and vitality of Los Angeles from across the country and around the world. They represent undergraduate education at top academic institutions such as Berkeley, Harvard, Michigan, Oxford, and Stanford Universities and many bring professional experience from diverse industries to the program. The MURP Program attracts individuals with a strong interest in public service who share a passion for changing the way cities and regions work. They come from a broad range of undergraduate backgrounds including architecture, geography, sociology, political science, education, and engineering. Typically, students who are accepted into the program have a minimum of 3-5 years of work experience (for example in teaching, architectural practice, or community development), although a select number of exceptional advanced students are accepted directly from their undergraduate institutions.
Social Planning Urban Welfare Faculty. Faculty The UCLA Urban Planning Department is consistently ranked as one of the premier planning programs in the country, and its reputation is build largely on the quality of the faculty窶馬ationally and internationally recognized researchers and practitioners in community development and organizing, cultural studies and planning, economic development, environmental policy, housing, international development, labor policy, ethnic studies, rural development, social policy, transportation, urban design, and urban and regional theory. Eric Avila, Associate Professor, Ph.D., History, University of California, Berkeley. The culture of cities; comparative U.S. urban history; 20th-century urbanism; history of Los Angeles; racial identity and racialization; urban Latino/Chicano culture; the uses and meanings of the urban built environment. Evelyn Blumenberg, Professor, Ph.D., Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles. Urban poverty and low-wage labor markets; social policy and planning; social and economic inequality; gender and planning; welfare and work; transportation and economic development. Stephen Commins, Lecturer, Ph.D., Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles. History of development planning and theory; regional economic development policies; Non-Governmental Organizations; the World Bank; regional development banks; linkages between globalization and local community decision making; complex humanitarian emergencies; business policies and environmental systems.
Randall Crane, Professor, Ph.D., Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Urban development; environmental policy; housing; governance; basic environmental services in Africa, Asia, and Latin America; land use/travel linkages; governance reform in decentralizing nations; environmental indicators; public policies toward sprawl; and housing and poverty in suburbia. Dana Cuff, Professor, Ph.D., Architecture, University of California, Berkeley. Social production of the built environment; political context for design; social and cultural bases of design; low-income housing and neighborhoods; urban design; community planning; critical urban studies; qualitative methods; affordable housing, modernism, and the politics of place; theory and history of property rights related to public housing and urban redevelopment. Matthew Drennan, Visiting Professor, Ph.D., Economics, New York University. Urban economics; transformation of metropolitan economies; urban public finance; analysis of economic effects of natural (tsunami) and unnatural (9/11) shocks to regional economies. Leobardo Estrada, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Sociology, Florida State University. Social planning; survey research; planning for multiple publics; demographic studies; geographic informational systems. Carol Goldstein, Lecturer, B.A., Environmental Design, Northwestern University. Cultural policy, planning, funding, and facility development; public art; cultural bases for coalitionbuilding; infrastructure and resources for artists, cultural workers, and arts organizations; equity, access and participation issues; arts administration/management. Gilda Haas, Lecturer, M.A., Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles. The right to the city, urban land reform, popular economics, and strategies for building effective democratic organization. continued on following page
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Susanna Hecht, Professor, Ph.D., Geography, UC Berkeley. Environmental impact of resource-based and rural development; political economy of tropical rain forest development; women in development; international development studies; international environmental politics; environmental history; alternative agricultural production systems; resources and resistance movements. Richard Jackson, Professor, M.D., UC San Francisco, M.P.H., UC Berkeley. Impact of environment on health; pesticides; toxicology; climate change. Marie Kennedy, Visiting Professor, M. Arch., Harvard University. Community development, planning education, participatory action research; developing racial and cultural awareness in community planning and on participatory planning methodologies for community empowerment; water politics and policies; Latin American social movements. Jacqueline Leavitt, Professor, Ph.D., Urban Planning, Columbia University. Rethinking housing policy; community development; public housing; multiculturalism; women’s needs; alternative planning and design for empowering grassroots groups. Special projects include work with resident leaders in public housing; homelessness; meanings of home. Michael Lens, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Public Administration, New York University Relationships between affordable housing programs and neighborhood crime; housing markets; econometrics and statistics; housing policy. Robin Liggett, Professor Emeritus, Ph.D., Operations Research, University of California, Los Angeles. Quantitative methods; computer graphics and computer applications in architecture, urban design, and urban planning; development of interactive computer software for aid to design and decision making with special emphasis on facility layout.
Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, Professor, Ph.D., Urban and Regional Planning, University of Southern California. Public environment of the city; physical planning and urban design for different cultures; privatization of public open space; development of land use policies and design guidelines for commercial corridors; transit-based communities in Los Angeles and their effect on urbanization and community rebuilding; issues of safety/security in inner city areas, and bus stop crime. Vinit Mukhija, Associate Professor, Ph.D., Urban Development and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Housing and the built environment; planning institutions and governance; urban development and physical planning; urban redevelopment; collective action and property rights; and comparative policy and planning. Barbara Nelson, Professor, Ph.D., Political Science, Ohio State University. Conflict mediation in civil society; leadership, social policy, nonprofits; philanthropy, social movements, and women and politics. Paul Ong, Professor, Ph.D., Economics, University of California, Berkeley. Race, ethnicity, and environmentalism; social inequality; urban labor markets; immigrants in the urban economy; welfare and work; geographic information systems and transportation planning. Gary Orfield, Professor, Ph.D., Political Science, University of Chicago. Educational policy as it relates to the challenges of urban schools; civil rights; urban policy and minority opportunity. Donald Shoup, Professor, Ph.D., Economics, Yale University. Public finance, urban economics, transportation, and land use; parking as a key link between transportation and land use. continued on following page
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Edward Soja, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Ph.D., Geography, University of Wisconsin. Critical urban and regional studies; interpretations of urban restructuring in Los Angeles; comparative studies of regional restructuring in industrial societies; and spatiality and planning theory. Michael A. Stoll, Professor, Ph.D., Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Interplay of race/ethnicity, urban poverty and labor markets, urban economic development strategies. Michael Storper, Professor, Ph.D., Geography, University of California, Berkeley. The relationship between trade patterns and location patterns; regional development in the Brazilian Northeast; evaluation of regional policy research for Directorate General XII of the European Union. Lois Takahashi, Professor and Chair, Ph.D., Urban Planning, University of Southern California. Social service delivery focusing on HIV/AIDS and homelessness; NIMBY/community opposition toward human service facilities; social capital and health; social capital and environmental management in Southeast Asian cities. Brian D. Taylor, Professor, Ph.D., Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles. Transportation policy, planning, and finance; politics of transportation finance including the history of freeway finance and linking subsidies to public transit performance; equity in the finance of transportation systems; transportation and urban form; planning for special populations including the poor and the disabled. Chris Tilly, Professor, Ph.D. Economics and Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Director, UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. Work and labor markets; poverty and inequality; community and regional development; social movements with a focus on the U.S. and Mexico, with some broader comparative work.
Abel Valenzuela, Professor, Ph.D., Urban and Regional Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. International migration; immigrants in the urban economy; causes and consequences of urban poverty; welfare reform; social policy; race, ethnicity, and social inequality. Rui Wang, Assistant Professor, Ph.D., Public Policy, Harvard University. Environmental policy; transportation policy; urban economics; Chinese urbanization. Goetz Wolff, Lecturer, M.Phil, Political Science, Yale University. Regional economic development; industrial restructuring and labor markets; Southern California economy; policy-oriented industrial, spatial, and labor analysis; industry cluster/sectoral analysis research methods; strategies for reducing inequality and increasing popular participation as an integral part of economic development. Min Zhou, Professor, Ph.D., Sociology, State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. Immigrant neighborhoods in Los Angeles: Chinatown, Koreatown, and Pico Union; intra-Asian migration: diverse patterns of human movements and the role of the state; race and ethnicity; the community; urban sociology.
A Growth Industry for Trained Professionals urban planning Graduates are well prepared to take leadership roles and effect change as practitioners, researchers, and policy makers. Students join a global network of alumni working in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The jobs that Urban Planning graduates take after completing their degrees are as diverse and unique as they are, including: community planners, housing developers, transportation consultants, and environmental analysts, to list a few.
Contact Us Department Information: (310) 825-4025 | Admissions Information: (310) 825-8957 Jennifer Crowe, Admissions Advisor | Robin McCallum, Graduate Advisor | Lois Takahashi, Chair upinfo@publicaffairs.ucla.edu
Costs and Financial Support Student support funds at UCLA are provided to graduate students in the form of grants, fellowships, traineeships, teaching assistantships, and graduate student researcher appointments. Support based solely on need is also provided, in the form of work-study and loans, through the Financial Aid Office. A student may receive both a departmental or Graduate Division award and an award based solely on financial need if the need-based criteria are met. The Financial Aid Office administers financial support based on need to domestic, full-time students. To apply for financial aid, submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the FAFSA Renewal Application by March 2. Completion of the FAFSA/FAFSA Renewal Application is required for all financial aid programs. Financial aid awards include long-term low interest loans and work study funds. Students may also apply for Federal Stafford Student Loans, which are long-term loans made by banks and other institutions. For further information on Graduate Financial support, visit www.gdnet.ucla.edu/asis/entsup/finsup.htm For information on Financial Aid, visit www.fao.ucla.edu Current fee information may be accessED online at www.registrar.ucla.edu/fees
Information and Deadlines A complete schedule of information sessions, statement of purpose workshops, and departmental open house events can be viewed online at http://www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu MURP Application Deadline: January 15 PhD and MURP Fellowship Consideration Deadline: December 15 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Deadline: March 2
About Urban Planning at The UCLA Luskin School Of Public Affairs “Our goal is to change the world. Students who graduate from the public policy, social welfare, and urban planning programs have the power to provide leadership, to effect remarkable changes for people across economic and geographical boundaries, and to bring about long-term solutions for the problems we face in our local and global communities. We’re here to create a better world—one project, one job, one action at a time.” —Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr., Dean, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Founded in 1969, the UCLA Department of Urban Planning has three distinct, interrelated goals: to influence planning scholarship; to train practitioners for leadership roles in the planning profession; and to build prosperous communities and a more just society. Urban Planning—offering master’s and doctoral degree programs, as well as joint programs in law, business, Latin American studies, and architecture—is one of the three departments of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Together with the departments of Social Welfare and Public Policy, this academic intersection that is the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs allows for academic cross-collaboration and a graduate education that values perspectives at the macro- and micro-organizational levels. Graduates of the master’s degree and doctoral programs are well prepared to take leadership roles and effect change as practitioners, researchers, and policy makers in the public, private, and nongovernmental sectors.
Department of Urban Planning 3250 School of Public Affairs Building, Box 951656, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656 www.publicaffairs.ucla.edu/up