91ÉçÇø

• School of Urban Planning
• Macdonald Harrington Building, Room 400
• 815 Sherbrooke Street West
• Montreal, QC H3A 2K6
• Canada

• Telephone: 514-398-4075
• Fax: 514-398-8376
• Email: admissions.planning [at] mcgill.ca
• Website: www.mcgill.ca/urbanplanning

91ÉçÇø was the first institution in Canada to offer a full-time planning program, starting in 1947. The School of Urban Planning was created in 1976 as a separate academic unit within the Faculty of Engineering. It shares a heritage building with the School of Architecture, right on the main open space of 91ÉçÇø’s Downtown campus. The School has a strong track record of contributing to urban communities and to the profession of planning. It participates in the study of urban problems and in the formulation of policies and plans in Québec, elsewhere in Canada, and in developing regions.

The main objective of the School is to educate professional urban planners for leadership in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. It also prepares doctoral students for high-level research and teaching positions. The Master of Urban Planning (M.U.P.) is a two-year program with a strong emphasis on practical work in studio courses. The core program provides a general education in spatial planning in its functional, environmental, and social dimensions. Formal specializations are available in Urban Design and in Transportation Planning. M.U.P. students in the core program may also participate in the Barbados Field Study Semester, which focuses on global environmental issues. Details concerning these concentrations are available at , www.mcgill.ca/urbandesign, and www.mcgill.ca/bfss respectively.

The School’s teaching and research activities pertain to community planning, environmental policy and planning, international development planning, land-use planning and regulation, transportation planning, and urban design. They occur at the local, national, and international levels and are often done in partnership with other 91ÉçÇø departments (notably Architecture, Civil Engineering, Geography, and Law) and with units at other institutions in Montréal, across Canada, and abroad. The School uses Montreal and its region as its main teaching laboratory, and it enjoys good relationships with the local, professional, and political communities.

Master of Urban Planning (M.U.P.) Program

The Master of Urban Planning (M.U.P.) program is a two-year course of study that attracts students from Québec, Canada, the U.S., and overseas. It is recognized by the Ordre des urbanistes du Québec (O.U.Q.) and the Canadian Institute of Planners (C.I.P.). Graduates may become full members of the O.U.Q. and other provincial planning associations by completing their respective internship and examination requirements. Similar requirements must be met for admission to the American Institute of Certified Planners (A.I.C.P.) and other such organizations.

Urban planning was developed as a profession in the early decades of the twentieth century thanks to joint efforts of architects, landscape architects, engineers, government reformers, lawyers, public-health specialists, and others. Today, students in the M.U.P. program come from diverse backgrounds as well, including the design professions, engineering and applied sciences, environmental and social studies, and other fields; most of them have gained some professional experience after their undergraduate studies. A key feature of planning education is learning to view issues in multidisciplinary ways and to generate equitable and efficient solutions to complex problems of urban change and development. The M.U.P. program was designed with a strong emphasis on project-based learning, i.e., practical work done in teams in a studio setting. About half of the curriculum is devoted to required courses that teach basic knowledge and skills in urban planning; the other half enables students to select courses that match their particular interests. Three studio courses, a summer internship, and a semester-long Supervised Research Project prepare them for professional practice and research. Students participate actively in professors’ research programs or define their own research objectives, sometimes with their own research funding from major agencies (e.g., SSHRC, NSERC, FQRSC, FQRNT).

Graduates of the M.U.P. program work as planners, designers, and policy analysts, and as advocates and mediators, at various levels of government, in civil-society organizations, and with private consulting firms. Their expertise ranges from community planning to transportation planning, from policy-making in housing to computer-assisted decision-making. They devote their efforts in increasing numbers to sustainable development in its environment, social, and economic dimensions.