Sustainable Urban Management, MS
for the degree of Master of Science in Sustainable Urban Management
The Master of Science in Sustainable Urban Management is a full-time degree program designed to be completed in one year providing analytical and strategic skills for professionals to help them manage change in urban areas. All students take core courses in Urban History and Theory and Urban and Regional Analysis. They also take the two-course sequence designed solely for this degree program, Urban Skills and Applications I and II, in which they integrate their skills into an urban systems framework. Students select their specialization courses from one of three areas of study: Regional Systems and Informatics, Energy and Environment, or Governance and Community.
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning offers graduate programs leading to the degrees of Master of Urban Planning and Doctor of Philosophy in Regional Planning as well as a Master of Science in Sustainable Urban Management. Students can also apply to obtain a joint degree with another graduate degree simultaneously. The most popular joint degrees are with Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Law and Agricultural and Applied Economics. Joint degrees with any related field are possible. In addition, a small number of the department's Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Planning (B.A.U.S.P.) students participate in the highly selective 4+1 program to complete the B.A.U.S.P. and M.U.P. in five years.
Admission
We welcome applications from people from a wide variety of backgrounds who have demonstrated potential for extraordinary professional achievement. Students seeking a graduate degree in planning come from a diverse range of academic backgrounds. The most frequent are sociology, economics, political science, geography, environmental sciences, architecture, engineering, public administration, urban planning, and public policy, but the natural sciences, humanities, and other fields also provide excellent foundations for graduate study in planning. Prospective students must have a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 computed from the last 60 hours of undergraduate work and any subsequent graduate study, but the average GPA of admitted students is considerably higher. International applicants must meet additional minimum requirements based on their country of origin, including the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
We place particular emphasis on each applicant's statement of purpose. Applicants should use the statement to convey information about their backgrounds, professional and personal experience, and intellectual perspectives, in the context of articulating why a Master's in Urban Planning or Ph.D. in Regional Planning from the University of Illinois will help them achieve their professional goals. We seek an applicant pool that represents a mix of racial and ethnic populations, a range of social and economic backgrounds, different philosophies and perspectives, and a variety of life experiences. We are especially interested in applicants with professional experience, though that experience need not be in planning or closely related fields.
Applicants to the Ph.D. program are admitted when they meet the standards of the Department and have a faculty member prepared to serve as their mentor and, if necessary, primary source of financial support. Students interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in Regional Planning should communicate with the Director of the Ph.D. Program and faculty most closely aligned with their interests, in addition to completing the formal application process.
Consult the M.U.P. admissions and Ph.D. admissions web pages for more information.
Graduate Teaching Experience
Although teaching is not a general Graduate College requirement, experience in teaching is considered an important part of the doctoral experience in this program and is strongly encouraged for those intending to pursue an academic career.
Faculty Research Interests
The mission of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning is to teach and conduct research to improve understanding of human settlements and of planning situations. The department’s faculty studies the ecological, economic, social, and institutional aspects of urban and regional development, and the theory and practice of planning processes. Planning is viewed as the achievement of outcomes based on interrelated actions over time and space, and close communication and collaboration with a wide range of disciplines and professions is inherent in the department’s approach. The basis of that collaboration is a faculty whose academic training and degrees are in architecture, economics, geography, history, law, political science, regional science, and zoology, in addition to planning. Planning faculty and doctoral students pursue interdisciplinary research and make scholarly contributions to planning and fields closely allied with planning.
Facilities and Resources
The Department of Urban and Regional Planning shares Temple Hoyne Buell Hall (TBH) with the Department of Landscape Architecture and the School of Architecture. The majority of urban planning classes are held in TBH. The department has a 24-hour instructional computing laboratory. Research project and doctoral student workspace is provided in Noble Hall.
The City Planning and Landscape Architecture Reference and Resource Center is located in Funk Library. The planning collection is one of the finest in the world, with books and reports gathered since the collection started over eighty years ago.
Financial Aid
Students compete for departmental and Graduate College fellowships and departmental teaching and research assistantships. Selection is based on the academic achievement and qualifications of the student.
for the degree of Master of Science in Sustainable Urban Management
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| UP 504 | Urban History and Theory | 4 |
| UP 512 | Urban Skills & Applications I: Colloquium | 4 |
| UP 505 | Urban and Regional Analysis | 4 |
| UP 513 | Urban Skills & Applications II: Chicago Practicum | 4 |
| Primary Area of Study: Students will pick one (Regional Systems and Informatics, Energy and Environment, Governance and Community | 12 | |
| Elective Hours | 4 | |
| Total Hours | 32 | |
Other Requirements
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Other requirements may overlap | ||
| Minimum GPA: | 3.0 | |
for the degree of Master of Science in Sustainable Urban Management
Upon completion of the program students should be able to:
- Understand the basic structures and functions of urban systems.
- Able to perform general urban and regional analyses as well as know the major sources of urban and regional data.
- Be comfortable working in multidisciplinary teams and solving complex urban problems.
- Have a deeper level of understanding of a primary area of study focused on either Regional Systems and Informatics, Energy and Environment, or Governance and Community.
for the degree of Master of Science in Sustainable Urban Management
Urban & Regional Planning
Department Head: Marc Doussard
Director of Graduate Studies: Andrew Greenlee
Urban & Regional Planning Department website
Urban & Regional Planning Department faculty
111 Temple Buell Hall, 611 Taft Drive, Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 333-3890
Urban & Regional Planning email
Admissions
Sustainable Urban Management Program Admissions & Requirements
Grad College Admissions & Requirements
College of Fine & Applied Arts
Fine & Applied Arts