The M.R.P. in Urban and Regional Planning is a 48-credit program designed to prepare students for professional planning careers with government agencies, consultancy firms, developers, and nonprofit groups. Students may opt to take the degree full- or part-time, and they may begin graduate study in Fall, Spring or Summer. Full-time students can complete the degree within two years.
Students must complete a series of core courses. These provide a broad-based introduction to planning (Pln 501 through 506). They also include a group planning studio project (Pln 681), a planning internship (Pln 684) and a Master's Research Paper on a topic of the student's choice (Pln 683). The requirement for specific core courses may be waived if a student obtains approval of transfer credit for equivalent graduate courses, or, in the case of Pln 503 and 504, if the student can demonstrate equivalent computational and statistical proficiency. The requirement for a planning internship is normally waived for students who have six months or more of paid, professional work experience in a planning-related job.
To demonstrate focus and expertise in a specific field of planning, students must complete at least three courses totaling nine or more credits in one of four alternative specializations:
� Environmental and Land-Use Planning
� Housing, Local Economic Development, and Community Planning
� Transportation Planning
� Urban and Regional Information Systems.
To complete the minimum requirement of 48 graduate credits, students may take other planning courses as electives. Alternatively, with the approval of their advisor, they may take planning-related graduate courses in other University at Albany graduate programs, or at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) or the Albany Law School.
Program of Study
The student, in consultation with the faculty advisor, develops a program of study using the following distribution of credits and courses.
1. Core Courses:
Pln 501/Gog 521 Planning History and Philosophy (3);
Pln 502/Gog 526 Urban and Metropolitan Structure and Functions (3);
Pln 503/Gog 555 Computer Applications in Planning (3);
Pln 504/Gog 502 Statistical Methods (3);
Pln 505 Planning Processes, Plans, and the Design of
Communities (4);
Pln 506 Planning Law (3);
Pln 510 Globalization and International Planning Practice (1)
Pln 681 Planning Studio (4);
One of the following topics within Pln 683 Master's Research Paper in Planning (4):
Environmental & Land-Use Planning
Housing, Local Economic Development, & Community Planning
Transportation Planning
Urban and Regional Information Systems
And one of the following topics within Pln 684 Planning Internship (3 S/U):
Environmental & Land-Use Planning
Housing, Local Economic Development & Community Planning
Transportation Planning
Urban and Regional Information Systems Internship
2. Specialization Courses: At least three courses in one field of specialization.
Environmental and Land-Use Planning
Pln 530/Gog 532 Environmental Planning (3)
Pln 531 Environmental Impact Assessment (2)
Pln 532 Parks, Preservation and Heritage Planning (3)
Pln 535/Pub 535 Environmental Restoration & Brownfields Redevelopment (3-4)
Pln 536 Landscape Planning (3)
Pln 545 Transportation Technologies Practicum (3)
Pln 549 Bicycle & Pedestrian Transportation Planning (3)
Pln 562/Pub 524 Plan Implementation and Development Management (3-4)
Pln 573/Pub 573 Metropolitan Governance & Planning (3-4)
Pln 574 Site Planning (3)
Pln 575 Urban Design (3)
Pln 697 Independent Study in Environmental & Land-Use Planning (1-4)
Housing, Local Economic Development, and Community Planning
Pln 523/Pub 523/Pos 523 Urban Community Development (3-4)
Pln 528/Pos 528/Pub 528 United States Housing Policy (3-4)
Pln 529/Pub 531/Lcs 529 Planning for Jobs, Housing and Community Services in Third World Cities (3-4)
Pln 532 Parks, Preservation and Heritage Planning (3)
Pln 535/Pub 535 Environmental Restoration & Brownfields Redevelopment (3-4)
Pln 540/Pos 540/Pub 540/Soc 540 Urban Policy in the United States (4)
Pln 560/Pub 560 Local Economic Development Strategies and Technologies (3-4)
Pln 562/Pub 524 Plan Implementation and Development Management (3-4)
Pln 697 Independent Study in Housing, Local Economic Development, & Community Planning (1-4)
Transportation Planning
Pln 543 Transportation Planning (3)
Pln 544 Transportation Planning Practicum (3)
Pln 545 Transportation Technologies Practicum (3)
Pln 549 Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Planning (3)
Pln 697 Independent Study in Transportation Planning (1-4)
Urban and Regional Information Systems
Pln 551/Gog 584 Remote Sensing I (3)
Pln 552 CAD in Planning (2)
Pln 555/Gog 595 Introductory MapInfo (1)
Pln 556/Gog 596 Geographic Information Systems (3)
Pln 557/Gog 597 ARC/INFO Practicum (3)
Pln 559/Gog 599 Geographic Information Systems Applications (3)
Pln 656/Gog 692 Seminar in Geographic Information Systems (3)
Pln 697 Independent Study in Urban & Regional Information Systems (1-4)
3. Elective Courses:
Pln 585 Topics in Planning (1-4)
Pln 682 Studio Report and Implementation (1-4)
Pln 697 Independent Study in Planning (1-4)
Pln 699 Master's Thesis in Planning (4-6 S/U)
Comprehensive Examination
In order to receive the M.R.P. Degree, all students must take and pass a written and an oral comprehensive exam. These exams are normally taken during the final year of graduate study, and each part may be retaken once if performance is not deemed satisfactory by the examiners. The written comprehensive is designed to test the student's knowledge of selected core areas of the planning curriculum, while the oral comprehensive tests expertise on a specific planning topic of the student's choice.
