The Department of City and Metropolitan Planning is a member of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP). The Master of City & Metropolitan (MCMP) is accredited by the National Planning Accreditation Board (PAB)
Department Chair: Divya Chandrasekhar, Ph.D.
Department Office: 220 Architecture Building
Mailing Address: 375 S. 1530 E. Rm 235, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0370
Phone: 801-581-8255
E-mail: plan@arch.utah.edu
Web Address: https://plan.cap.utah.edu/
The Profession of Urban Planning
Planners assist in creating opportunities related to the preservation and enhancement of community life, the protection of the environment, the promotion of equity, and the management of urban growth and change. Planners address numerous public issues affecting where people live, work, and play, where they shop and receive medical attention, how they get from place to place, what communities look like, how communities work, and how we use our resources. Planning typically involves the performance of various roles. Some planners function as technical analysts or researchers, others as designers or program developers, some as social change agents, and others as managers or educators.
Planning is a highly interdisciplinary profession. Planners develop plans, programs, and policies; planners must assess, understand, and communicate urban policy options and their social, economic, political, and environmental consequences. Specializations include land use, environmental planning, economic development, housing and community development, transportation planning, urban design, historic preservation, and governmental information systems. Recurring themes include human settlements, interconnections, remote and indirect consequences, pathways for future change, plurality of context, diversity of needs, participatory decision-making and linking knowledge to collective action. Planners work in various public agencies - city, county, state, and federal - and in consulting firms, public utilities, community organizations, and non-profit foundations and agencies.
Undergraduate Program
Students in the BA and BS in Urban Ecology Program study human settlements – from rural communities to megacities – consisting of dynamic relationships between social, natural, and built systems. The Urban Ecology program in City and Metropolitan Planning at the University of Utah takes an action-oriented, community-engaged approach to help students gain the knowledge and skills to foster sustainable, resilient, and equitable communities. The program is responsive to urban and rural problems and opportunities in the Intermountain West, such as population growth and demographic change, economic restructuring, natural resource management, and climate change.
Students in the Urban Ecology program engage with topics such as sustainability, ecological planning, land use and transportation, economics, law, housing, disaster resilience, dark skies, and community engagement. Many classes will take students out of the classroom and involve them in hands-on research and engagement in local communities and environments. In their senior year, students take the Ecological Planning Workshop, which applies and synthesizes what they have learned to tackle a real-world planning project with a local community.
The undergraduate program in Urban Ecology will prepare students for graduate study or a career in planning or design, sustainability, public health, public policy, community development, and other fields working at the nexus of people, place, and design.