Careers In Urban Planning?

[Cooool]

I'm in third year University at McMaster for Geography and Communications Studies and I'm starting to warm up to the idea of a job in urban planning. The University does not offer urban planning and transferring schools would simply not be worth it.

Should I pursue a post graduate degree in college after University?

Should I aim for a Master's degree (please say no)?

Is urban planning a wise option and worth pursuing?

Will a geography degree suffice for a job in urban planning?

Thank you for very much.

 

[jn_12]

Should I pursue a post graduate degree in college after University?
Should I aim for a Master's degree (please say no)?

To be an urban planner you need to be a member of the CIP/OPPI. So, you'll need to get a post-graduate degree from an accredited program (Essentially, you need a masters from one of 6 schools in Ontario)
http://www.ontarioplanners.on.ca/content/BecomeAMember/recognizedprograms.aspx

Why are you against getting a masters?

Is urban planning a wise option and worth pursuing?

The reason I chose it was because I felt a Masters degree in Public Policy was too narrow. With a planning degree, you can do so much. For example, I'm mostly focusing on policy in tourism, but I'm also getting a great background in the actual practice of planning. This way I can go in any number of directions once I'm done school. Also, with planning you can work in the public or private sector, so there are numerous paths you can take. Plus, cities aren't going anywhere. Urban planning is a hot topic issue right now (just look at this message board). I think it's a pretty exciting field to be in.

Will a geography degree suffice for a job in urban planning?

A friend in my program has a geography degree and worked in GIS for 10 years. He then decided that with that degree doing the work he was doing would be as good as it gets. So he opted to go back to school and get his masters and become a planner. I guess it depends on what you want to do for a living, but a geography degree on its own won't get you a planning position.

 

[CDL.TO]

The reason I chose it was because I felt a Masters degree in Public Policy was too narrow.

Ha ha. I'm considering a Masters in Public Policy because urban planning seems too narrow.

Why did you feel that Public Policy was a narrow field?

 

[ShonTron]

I took a geographic degree in undergrad (somewhat GIS heavy) but balanced that with a public admin minor, which I think helped.

Urban planning is not a bad field to get into, but if you can get a minor (in public admin, economics, environmental science, etc) it would be very helpful.

 

[jn_12]

Ha ha. I'm considering a Masters in Public Policy because urban planning seems too narrow.

Why did you feel that Public Policy was a narrow field?

haha that's pretty interesting.
I can see why planning might seem a lot narrower than public policy, but I guess it's just a matter of how you look at it.

I was going to go the public policy route until i worked in the province's tourism ministry 3 years ago. My manager there had a degree in Urban planning from Dal and had worked in municipal affairs and housing, then jumped to health then Tourism. He went from a planning position into policy and I didn't see how it would be possible to do the opposite (policy into planning). Basically my thought process was that planning can include policy but policy can't include planning. Perhaps it depends on what kind of planning you're focusing on, but I've been pretty strategic with how I've combined policy and planning in my coursework and my research in order to get a really good grasp of both. Really, it all depends on what you're interested in and what is the best path to take to get there.

 

[jn_12]

I took a geographic degree in undergrad (somewhat GIS heavy) but balanced that with a public admin minor, which I think helped.

Urban planning is not a bad field to get into, but if you can get a minor (in public admin, economics, environmental science, etc) it would be very helpful.

York's program is a Masters of Environmental Studies (Planning). So that might be a decent option for getting multiple titles since you can't really get a minor in a Masters program.

 

[CDL.TO]

haha that's pretty interesting.
I can see why planning might seem a lot narrower than public policy, but I guess it's just a matter of how you look at it.

I was going to go the public policy route until i worked in the province's tourism ministry 3 years ago. My manager there had a degree in Urban planning from Dal and had worked in municipal affairs and housing, then jumped to health then Tourism. He went from a planning position into policy and I didn't see how it would be possible to do the opposite (policy into planning). Basically my thought process was that planning can include policy but policy can't include planning. Perhaps it depends on what kind of planning you're focusing on, but I've been pretty strategic with how I've combined policy and planning in my coursework and my research in order to get a really good grasp of both. Really, it all depends on what you're interested in and what is the best path to take to get there.

Thanks for your reply. I think we have basically the same views on things, but drew different conclusions.

I've seen lots of planning job postings that don't require a planning degree. You need planning certification to be a certified planner, but that just means you have the ability to sign off on plans. The actual work can be done by anyone with sufficient knowledge and experience. That said, my big worry about planning is that so few people ever get to do actual creative planning. So many people just end up being stuck doing development approvals or, at most, district plans.

Your boss in Tourism was the flip side of the same coin, as far as I see it. He was in a policy field but didn't have a policy degree. His planning degree didn't get him the job, what mattered was his experience.

Policy just seems so much more flexible. You can have a hand in working on planning policy, tourism policy, social policy, economic policy, etc... as well as an emphasis on management skills.

Thanks for discussing this with me. Grad school applications are due soon and I'm still trying to decide what I want to do.

 

[jn_12]

No problem! I'm in York's Masters of Environmental Studies (Planning) program and they have a very broad concept of Environment and Planning, which I've found to be very helpful towards developing my own direction and goals. It has some pros and cons like all programs but if it's a program you're interested in at all, I'd be glad to discuss it with you.

I agree about policy being much more creative. I'd hate to have a job where I'm just handling development applications all day. However, the idea of working for a private planning firm is really intriguing to me. I think I always saw that as my potential avenue for planning since I'm a very competitive person and I tend to be motivated by ideas. I guess you could do that without the planning degree, but I'd rather explain to an interviewer how my planning degree relates to policy than how my policy degree relates to planning. Mind you, I guess it entirely depends on the program you're in. I know most planning programs are much more rigid than York's, and I'm not sure you'd get the policy aspect from other schools in the same way you'd get it from my own program. Hell, even in my own program, I've had to really make an effort to focus on policy.

Good luck though, and like I said, if you have any questions about York's program, just ask.