Program Mission

The Master of Urban Planning Program strives to be the premier academic unit committed to the creation, dissemination and application of multidisciplinary knowledge in the field of urban planning. The program will provide professional men and women with outstanding, specialized graduate education that will enable them to undertake leadership roles in managing urban growth, prescribing urbanization policies and advancing social development. The program will seek to empower students with the highest ethical standards compatible with values of local cultural settings, principles of social justice, and concerns for environmental protection and sustainability.

The principal means though which this mission is accomplished is through pursuing the following goals:

• offering the highest quality educational setting that integrates theoretical principles of urban planning with practical applications
• pursuing approaches to teaching and learning that emphasize dealing, whenever possible, with practical, real-world issues and problems
• supporting and promoting interdisciplinary original research in urban planning and related fields
• attracting the best qualified students with indisputable potential for leadership
• advancing cooperation and forging partnerships with local communities, be they governmental, professional, academic and/or other local groups such as not-for-profit entities and non-governmental organizations

Based on these goals, the program objective is to graduate urban planning professionals who:

• have the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively engage in urban planning practice at the local, national, regional or international scale
• can take leadership roles in planning administration and policy-making at the local and national levels
• can deal with planning problems in their local context without overlooking the global dimension
• are action-oriented and deeply acquainted with practical, real-world issues and problems that they consider as a means to engage theories and understand concepts
• view planning as a value-laden field with wide ranging societal implications
• understand and appreciate the interdisciplinary nature of the field of urban planning and value sustainability as a basic guiding principle in all urban planning activities