collageCourses are academic classes taught by qualified instructors that are intended to enhance participant’s knowledge of a given area or training in a particular discipline. Courses vary broadly in terms of length, size, content and duration.
The study of urban planning can help students learn how to ensure maximum growth and development of a certain area while still preserving quality of life for inhabitants. Topics covered might include everything from public policy to civil engineering.
Europe is the sixth largest continent and includes 47 countries and assorted dependencies, islands and territories. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, Asia to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the West.
What is Urban Planning?
Urban planning External link is about making the best use of space for the benefit of residents, businesses, and the greater community. Urban planners help write blueprints for how to create healthy neighborhoods and cities for now and for the future. That can encompass land-use planning, economic development, and protecting the natural environment. Some of these areas are also the focus of public administration master’s degrees.
Let’s explore the difference between urban planning and several adjacent fields.
Master of Urban Design vs Urban Planning
These two graduate degrees share a lot of things in common. But they differ in a couple of key ways. One is that a master’s degree in urban design arguably puts a greater emphasis on aesthetics than urban planning, which in turn has a stronger orientation toward policy and regulation than urban design does.
Master of Urban Studies vs Urban Planning
The crux of urban studies is to understand the lives of city dwellers. Specifically, how residents interact with their environment – physical, economic, racial and otherwise — and how those forces shape societal issues such as affordable housing, quality education, and joblessness. At some colleges, urban studies is an academic department within the school of architecture or urban planning.
Master of City Planning vs Urban Planning
The difference between a degree in city planning vs urban planning is largely one of scale and geography. A city planner is primarily involved with issues at a municipal level, such as public transit, housing or retail development. An urban planner, on the other hand, often deals with matters at a larger regional level.
Master of Real Estate Development vs Urban Planning
The difference between someone with a degree in real estate development and in urban planning is that real estate developers can leave a much more physical footprint. Real estate developers External link may help revitalize shopping centers, build commercial and residential complexes, and convert land for new uses.
Master of Architecture vs Urban Planning
The one big difference between someone who is interested in becoming an architect and someone who is interested in becoming an urban planner is that you need a license to work as an architect. Urban planners don’t need a license to practice their profession External link . If you don’t have a bachelor of architecture degree, you’ll need a master’s degree in architecture and certain amount of work experience to apply for your license External link .
Executive Master’s Degree in Urban Planning and Development
An executive master’s in urban planning and development is for rising executives with several years of work experience. The courses for executive master’s in urban planning and development students are designed to give students a comprehensive, practical understanding of how urban planning works in both the private and public sectors.
Why Obtain Your Master’s in Urban Planning Online?
One benefit to earning your urban planning master’s online is the flexibility. For online programs, you may be able to access your coursework anytime from a connected device. That may make it easier for you to complete your degree while maintaining a job. Or juggle dual degrees in related fields. It’s not uncommon for urban planners to also be licensed as architects or hold a degree in urban design.
Another advantage is that you can enroll in schools located anywhere in the country, without having to relocate. An online program opens more choices for you among the nation’s top master’s programs in urban planning.
Best Urban Planning Schools In Europe
Find the Best Online Urban Planning Master’s Programs for You
Only a handful of universities offer a master’s in urban planning online External link . Pick your school carefully to find one that offers a strong program in your area of interest, whether it’s urban design, real estate development, or city planning.
How to Get an Urban Planning Degree Online
More than 70 master’s programs are accredited by the national Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) External link . It typically takes two years to earn a master’s in urban planning. But earning a master’s degree in urban planning can take as little as 16 months with full-time study.
Online Master of Urban Planning Admissions Requirements
The most common prerequisite for applicants is that they have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college. Usually, you’ll need to submit your resume, transcripts, recommendation letters and an application fee (early applicants may get their fees waived). You also may need a personal essay explaining your goals for the program.
GRE-Optional Urban Planning Master’s Online Programs
Some urban planning programs do not require the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) or the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), or will waive the requirement starting soon. Schools may give preference to those who have relevant work experience, but it’s not necessarily required.
Online Urban Planning Master’s Curriculum
Urban planning is a highly interdisciplinary degree. Students who enter a master’s program may have majored in sociology, geography, architecture, or many other areas as undergraduates. The master’s curriculum is designed to give you a well-rounded understanding of how to design for robust, equitable cities.
Core classes for master’s urban planning vary by universities. But they cover a wide range of topics, including:
History and ethics of urban planning
Spatial analysis
Public and private development
Quantitative analysis
Legal and regulatory framework
What Can You Do with a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning?
A graduate degree in urban planning can be your gateway to a host of different careers. A master’s degree is usually required to work professionally as an urban planner. Like a public administrator career, an urban planning career can prepare you to work for government agencies, private employers, or nonprofits. International aid organizations such as the World Bank and the United Nations also hire planners. Your field might be public policy, law, research, education, advocacy, or even politics.
Is a Degree in Urban Planning Worth It?
Employment demand for urban planners is projected to grow by 11%, or about 4,300 jobs, from 2018 to 2028, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s more than twice as fast as the overall job market during the same period External link .
Why Should You Become an Urban Planner
Urban planning is a creative, challenging profession with a noble mission: To help people imagine – and to live – a better, more sustainable future. Building communities that are happier, healthier and more equitable and prosperous is the ultimate goal in urban planning.
As Amit Price Patel told the American Planning Association External link , he knew at age six that he wanted to be an architect. But once he enrolled at architecture school at Washington University in St. Louis, Patel grew disillusioned and almost switched his major to geology.
But under the tutelage of professors who stressed the community aspect of design, Patel discovered and fell in love with urban planning.
“The confluence of design with social equity, economics, the natural environment, and history was so much more interesting to me than designing individual buildings,” he said.
Urban Planning Jobs and Career Outlook
Urban planning can be a lucrative career. The median salary for urban planners in 2018 was $73,050. Compare that to the median wage of $51,960 for all jobs in the U.S.
15 Best universities in the world for Masters in Urban Planning.
The Urban Planning Master is one of the most common master’s programs among architects and urban planners. Many areas such as seeking answers to urbanization problems, dealing with the city in sociological, sustainability, and economic terms are mentioned. It is usually a 1 or 2-year program. Here are the top 15 of the Urban Planning Masters.
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Cambridge, United States
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No one does not know about MIT, but let’s learn it anyway. As the name suggests, it is located in Massachusetts USA. Like other schools in the USA, this school is paid. It has a 2-years master’s program. He is in the Urban Studies and Planning school as a Master in City Planning program. This program aims to provide students with the skills needed to prepare for traditional and emerging planning roles.
This program offers four areas of specialization beyond basic teaching. Such as city design, environmental planning, housing, community, and economic development. Master students apply by choosing the field they want to specialize in during the application.
- Delft University of Technology
Delft, Netherlands
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One of the top-quality architecture schools, Delft University is located in Delft, the Netherlands. It is a 2-year master’s program. The language of instruction is English. Architecture, Urbanism, Building Sciences Master of Sciences. This faculty starts with an international orientation. The multicultural structure is very important.
The teaching approach is inspired by the Dutch tradition of working way. Students working in groups to create integrated solutions for the built environment. Students were provided with very good model building facilities, studio spaces, and opportunities such as frequent trips and workshops.
- UCL
London, United Kingdom
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It has been designated as a Master of Urban Design and Urban Planning. It is a 2-year master of science program. In addition to being in a multinational London environment, it makes a difference with the quality of education.
The program focuses on urban design as a creative planning tool and its relationship with urban planning. It processes urban design theoretically and practically. Besides, it offers extensive research and rethinking opportunities to the complexity of its relationship with the urban planning field.
- ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Zürich, Switzerland
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This program is designed as a Master of Advanced Studies in Urban and Regional Design. It is a two-semester full-time 1-year program taught in English. Its philosophy starts from human-centered design. It explores the social environment and the increasing awareness spirit of society. It feeds on activist movements.
It aims to revalue urban and regional design, which will be presented to people in a way, as a synthesis area between scientific disciplines, human movements, practice, social movements, and politics. It also engages in the concepts of transformation, reuse, regeneration, restoration, and transition of habitats and ecologies.
Applicants must have at least two different higher education degrees. The first is a bachelor’s degree in architecture, civil or environmental engineering, or landscape architecture, and second, a master’s degree in architecture, urbanism or planning, landscape architecture, civil and environmental engineering, or city administration.
- Harvard University
Cambridge, United States
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It is a 2-year City Planning Master’s program. Urban planning students learn how to understand and analyze various phenomena such as social, economic, cultural, political, and ecological. They are a skilled lead candidate in their future professional career.
For this position, a quality educational environment where they acquire knowledge and skills is created. Graduates often work in local urban planning departments, national institutions, private consulting firms, non-profit organizations, and many other high-level business environments.
- University of California, Berkeley (UCB)
Berkeley, United States
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This program consists of specialized fields in 4 different branches.
CONCENTRATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND HEALTHY CITIES
Students are knowledgeable about the depletion of natural resources, climate change, and analyzing access to basic services. This concentration continues studies on subjects such as urban sustainability and environmental risks. Its students analyze the relationships between natural and built environments in cities. The aim is to reach healthy cities.
CONCENTRATION IN HOUSING, SOCIETY, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
This area focuses on the equitable development of neighborhoods and cities in the US and internationally. It stands out for its attention to racial, social, and economic justice issues in the built environment, often concerning communities that have historically been deprived of investment and separated.
CONCENTRATION IN TRANSPORT POLICY AND PLANNING
This program focuses on planning for urban transport and land-use systems. The interaction of transportation and land use with the built and natural environment has been prioritized. Care is taken to continue efforts to facilitate and expand the use of sustainable means of transportation such as walking, cycling, and public transportation.
CONCENTRATION IN URBAN DESIGN
Urban designers in this program design physical environments directly or indirectly. The scale of operation starts from small public spaces and extends to city-wide systems. The main concerns are on issues such as livability, identity, and quality of daily life.
- Politecnico di Milano
Milan, Italy
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This 2-year program is a Laurea Magistrale program. The program simultaneously carries out studies for the development of urban planning tools such as infrastructure, housing, transportation, services, and environmental policies in the field of urban planning.
On the other hand, it gains mastery of new urban and regional policies that require specific professional competence.
8.Manchester School of Architecture
United Kingdom
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Provides developing detailed design analysis at different scales and developing application skills. Explore real-life planning and development issues with international field trips. The overseas field visit is an essential part of the course.
It includes different and unique cities with its texture and structure such as Barcelona, Amsterdam, Dublin, Seattle, Toronto, and Vienna. The program focuses on issues of international importance and seeks an expert perspective on the relationship between design and planning.
- University of Cambridge
Cambridge, United Kingdom
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This program aims to train students as qualified researchers. There are two different pillars of teaching. These are Sustainability and environmental design and Socio-politics and culture of architecture and the city.
Students are encouraged to participate in both streams and to draw or combine them. After the second semester, it offers the option to specialize in these areas and work for specialization. Education asks students to develop their own experience by researching their area of interest.
- EPFL
Lausanne, Switzerland
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The language of instruction is French. It focuses on the shelter patterns of the poor in the southern countries and especially the contexts of crises caused by natural disasters or conflict, such as emergency architectures. Presents a critical analysis of urbanization. Examines the settlements such as slums, camps, reconstructions.
The program invites students to think beyond the achievements of their education, to reflect on the global and local problems of urbanization and the role of professionals and residents in the building of their homes and environments.
- Tsinghua University
Fontainebleau, China (Mainland)
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Educational activities at Tsinghua University marked the beginning of the development of further education in Tsinghua. Over the decades, both graduate and doctoral programs are offered at the university in academic and professional degrees. And the past years have witnessed Tsinghua’s continued efforts to improve the quality of graduate education, with a special emphasis on research and creative thinking, to stand as the top research university in China.
For more than a century, Tsinghua has prepared men and women for truly outstanding career achievements. We hope your education at Tsinghua will be an exciting and rewarding experience.
- Columbia University
New York City, United States
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The Master of Science in Urban Planning is a two-year degree. The program uses urban analytics, field research, community engagement to address real-world planning issues. It aims to blend social justice and critical practice with urban planning. It is known as one of the first planning programs to use data science and visualization for future studies.
- The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR
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The Master Urban Planning is a two-year full-time international graduate program that provides a comprehensive professional education. Provides training in urban and regional planning theories, methods, and applications. The hallmark of this program is the emphasis on the design and planning of sustainable cities and neighborhoods.
On the other hand, it focuses on Hong Kong and the Asian region. It provides a broad perspective on contemporary cities and regional development issues. This program is a full member of the Asian Planning Schools Association, a member of the Global Planning Education Association Network.
- University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Los Angeles, United States
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UCLA has been designated as the Urban Planning Master Program. It is 2-year training. The program creates a learning environment that is unique and different from the rest. It takes into account the intersection of geographical, socioeconomic, and professional resources. The city in which it is located, Los Angeles, is one of the most diverse cities in the world. In this respect, students’ observations of the social environment have greatly expanded.
The structure of the city offers a unique laboratory environment for students. It directs development activities such as community development, environmental planning, and land development. Also, designs developed on regional and international development and transportation issues lead to urban planning.
- The University of Melbourne
Parkville, Australia
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It is a program designated as an Urban Planning Master’s Degree. It is located in Melbourne, a very developed cosmopolitan city within the unique structure of Australia. It is a 2-year program. It is affected by global problems affecting cities.
Concern about issues such as climate change and inequalities, community security are among the fundamentals of this program. It carries out studies to use urban planning and design as a service to society. This mindset made the school open to interdisciplinary teachings.
Master of Science in Urban Informatics
The Master of Science in Urban Informatics at Northeastern University is one of the first interdisciplinary, cross-college programs to combine comprehensive data analytics skills with practical training in urban policy and planning. This STEM eligible program will prepare you to use big data to tackle the key social, infrastructural, and environmental challenges facing cities in the 21st century.
You’ll have a unique opportunity to:
- Develop core data analytics skills, such as quantitative analysis, data mining, machine learning, and data visualization.
- Apply your learning immediately to real-world urban policy challenges through research practicums, capstone projects and co-op opportunities.
- Forge connections with our extensive global network of researchers, practitioners, alumni, and thought leaders from private and public organizations.
- Attract employers with an e-portfolio that showcases your accomplishments and professional capabilities.
Not ready to commit to a full master’s program?Earn a career-advancing credential with a graduate certificate in Urban Analytics and apply the credits you earn directly to the master’s program.
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