Focus Areas and Specializations

To assist students in designing their programs in ways appropriate to their specific interests and SCARP’s strengths, six Focus Areas and two specializations have been identified by the faculty. Each year the Focus Area and Specialization Advising Guidelines will reflect the courses being offered and the faculty members available for supervising research. These concentrations and combinations of them reflect the expanding scope of professional planning and thus the increasing relevance and applicability of a planning-based education to problem-solving in both the public and private domains. They also acknowledge that while planning, as the systemic application of knowledge to societal problems, may have a common theoretical and procedural base, it is impossible for any one student in a two-year program to master all the substantive knowledge and specific skills relevant to the expanding profession today.

It is important to realize that, beyond the Masters Program requirements, the six substantive focus areas are a general guide and do not restrict the ways in which you can customize your program to fit your particular interests and career aspirations in consultation with your faculty advisor. For example, beyond the required courses and distribution requirements, students may choose to emphasize courses selected from within one area (e.g. urban development planning), or from among offerings in each of the six areas (e.g. if their interests lie in working in developing countries on disaster management through community-based approaches to land use and transportation planning). Students wanting to take either of the two specialization areas in Urban Design or Indigenous Community Planning must take additional required courses as indicated in the descriptions below.

A set of Advising Guidelines have been drafted for each focus area and specialization to assist students in designing their programs in ways that meet their interests within accreditation requirements of the Canadian Institute of Planners and the US Planning Accreditation Board. The course options capitalize on the unique research, professional practice and teaching strengths of the School’s faculty, as well as additional faculty members who are available through other UBC departments and other nearby universities, notably Simon Fraser University and the University of Victoria. By reviewing the Advising Guidelines, linked to the focus areas and specializations listed below, and the outlines of the courses indicated in each area, you can obtain detailed information about the subjects they cover.

Please note these are courses being offered in 2011-12 and that there will be variations in each year.

The six Focus Areas and two specializations are:

Specializations

The identification of Focus Areas or Specializations in the application process is to help the applicant gain more clarity about his/her learning goals, assist the school in making decisions about the composition of the incoming class, and ensure diversity within the student cohort and congruence with faculty members' areas of expertise. Two preferences are asked for, as the application is reviewed twice based on these preferences. In your application, indicate first and second preference using the Focus Areas and Specializations list above. Please read through the Advising Guidelines of each Focus Area or Specialization before indicating your preferences.

To further assist you in considering where your interests lie we encourage you to review the information provided on careers in planning by the Canadian Institute of Planners and American Planning Association. To appreciate the immense diversity of possible careers for graduates with a planning degree you should also consult web sites for other organizations of planners (e.g. Planners Network or the National Urban Design Group of CIP ) and for closely associated practitioner organizations (e.g. Association of Conflict Resolution).

ADVISING GUIDELINES

Students will work with their assigned Faculty Advisor (and Research Supervisor, once selected) to design a program of studies that is appropriate to their needs, which incorporate the Program Requirements. Faculty members will indicate the courses that they expect students to take if they wish them to be their Research Supervisor. The Urban Design and Indigenous Community Planning Specializations already have specific requirements and other focus areas may develop some in the future.