Last modified: 07.22.08

Welcome to the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania, also known as PennPlanning.  Since 1950, PennPlanning has been educating students in the theory and practice of city and regional planning.  These students have gone on to become leaders in the planning profession, and more importantly, to make a real difference in their communities and the world.

Whether you are a current PennPlanning student looking for course advice, a prospective student thinking about applying to PennPlanning, or an alum looking to reconnect, this website is your one-stop source of information.

PennPlanning  offers two planning degrees, a two-year Master of City Planning degree or MCP, and a Doctor of Philosophy in City Planning, or PhD.  

The MCP program includes a core curriculum covering planning history, theory, methods, and law; three concentrations—including Community and Economic Development, Urban Development and Design, and Land Use-Transportation-Environmental Planning—a series of electives that can be taken anywhere in the University, and a required internship. The core curriculum also includes two hands-on opportunities for students to work on real planning problems in real communities for real clients: Workshop for first-year students and Studio for second year students.  Cumulatively, these requirements give MCP students the skills, knowledge, and experience they will need to become leaders in urban design, community and economic development, land use and environmental planning, housing, transportation, real estate and project development, urban revitalization, neighborhood planning,, GIS, and sustainable development.

For students who want a broader professional education, PennPlanning offers dual degree masters programs with Architecture, Historic Preservation, Landscape Architecture, Law, Social Work, the FELS School of Government, and Wharton Business School.  For students who want to dig deeper, PennPlanning (together with other PennDesign and University of Pennsylvania departments) offers 5-course certificate programs in real estate design and development, urban design, land preservation, GIS and spatial analysis, and urban redevelopment.  Most PennPlanning students who complete a certificate program do so simultaneously with their MCP.

PennPlanning’s PhD Program is designed for those interested in careers in teaching and advanced research and policy-making.  The PhD experience is all about building knowledge—and in the case of a planning PhD, knowledge that can be used to improve cities, regions, and communities. PennPlanning’s strength is that it is administered by a multi-disciplinary Graduate Group, and this gives PennPlanning PhD students access to a broader variety of faculty, perspectives, and knowledge-building opportunities. PhD study typically takes four years, and involves a succession of classes, writing projects, and field exams, culminating in the completion of an original and important dissertation.

PennPlanning’s  faculty continue the traditions of innovation and excellence established by the program’s founders and pioneers: Paul Davidoff, William Grigsby, John Keene , Seymour Mandelbaum, Ian McHarg, Martin Meyerson, Lewis Mumford , Stephen  Putnam, Chester Rapkin, and, Anne Strong, and Anthony Tomazinis, , , Current standing and affiliated faculty include Eugenie Birch (planning history and urban redevelopment), Tom Daniels (land use and environmental planning), Amy Hillier (GIS and research methods), Gary Hack (urban design),  John Landis (growth management and sustainable development), Michael Larice (urban design and planning theory), Randy Mason (historic preservation),  Harris Steinberg (community engagement), Dana Tomlin (GIS and environmental planning), Domenic Vitiello (immigration and food systems), Vukan Vuchic (transportation planning), Susan Wachter (real estate), Rachel Weinberger (transportation planning), and Laura Wolf-Powers (community and economic development).

Students who want to engage theory with practice will find common ground at PennPlanning. In addition to our two distinguished professors of practice—world-renowned urban designer Jonathan Barnett and regional entrepreneur and planner Robert Yaro, head of the Regional Plan Association—city planning lecturers include former Enterprise Foundation head Paul Brophy, Alicia Glen of Goldman Sachs, the urban design & planning firm Kise Straw Kolodner’s James Kise, and. Paul Levy, President and CEO of the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, Students who just want to “get out and plan” can do so through PennPraxis, PennDesign’s unique applied practice arm, or through the numerous internships offered throughout the year.

On the research side, the Penn Institute for Urban Research (PennIUR) brings together national and international researchers and practitioners on such topics as disaster recovery, growing greener cities, neighborhood place-making, eminent domain, poverty and development in the global south, and role of anchor institutions in fostering urban revitalization.  Whether through PennIUR or working with individual faculty, graduate students have a number of opportunities to engage in cutting edge research.

As always, PennPlanning’s international reputation and network of alumni and colleagues provide unique opportunities for planning students to explore the world beyond the US. The department fosters these connections through wide-ranging studio, research and internship projects. In the past few years, students traveled with studio classes to  Bogota, Colombia; Madrid, Spain; and Seoul, Korea.

For those who love cities, Philadelphia is a great place to live and study.  When it comes to city planning, now is the time and Philadelphia is the place. With a dynamic new mayor, a reborn city government, and planning again on the front-burner, the Philadelphia region is leaping into the 21st century—but without forgetting its historical and cultural roots.   To help do our part, PennPlanning has declared this coming year the “Year of Philadelphia,” and will be devoting many of our lectures and studios and other educational efforts to Philadelphia area planning issues and challenges. 

And when you are done studying, your professional life beckons.  PennPlanning graduates go to work for planning and design consultants like Wallace, Roberts, Todd; city agencies like the Philadelphia Planning Commission, and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Commission; business and development groups such as the  Center City Development Corporation; regional planning agencies like the Delaware Regional Planning Commission; state planning agencies, private developers, non-profit community and affordable housing developers, community advocacy groups, land conservation groups, public policy research organizations, architecture and urban design firms, and national and  international planning and development  groups.  The typical PennPlanning graduate, like the typical planner, can expect to have many positions over the course of their career, and our goal at PennPlanning is to give you the skills and knowledge to become a planning leader.

Having trained nearly 2000 city planners, PennPlanning’s pride is its student body—past, present, and future.  If you are an alum, please feel free to e-mail us (cityplan@design.upenn.edu) with updates on your career.  If you are a current student, your input is, as always, welcome and encouraged.  And if you a prospective student thinking about a career in planning, please consider joining us.