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Minor in Urban Design & Planning

Overview

Urban design and planning addresses critical issues of human settlement and urban development. It provides communities with an informed basis for coordinated public and private-sector action. Urban design and planning constitutes a professional field of growing complexity, integrating the social, behavioral, and cultural relationships between people and the quality of their built and natural environment.

Departmental faculty are active participants in interdisciplinary research units, including the Institute for Hazard Mitigation Planning and Research, the Urban Form Lab, the Urban Ecology Research Lab, the Runstad Department of Real Estate, and the Northwest Center for Livable Communities.

Requirements

The Minor in Urban Design and Planning requires 30 credits of total coursework, including:

  • URBDP 300: Introduction to Urban Planning (5 credits)
  • 13 credits of URBDP-prefix courses
  • 12 credits of planning-related courses with Urban Design and Planning adviser approval

URBDP-prefix courses available to undergraduate students include:

Autumn Quarter

  • URBDP 404: Introduction to GIS (3 credits)
  • URBDP 424: Site Planning Issues & Techniques (3 credits)
  • URBDP 466: Infrastructure & Community Facilities (4 credits)
  • URBDP 480: Planning as a Profession (1 credit)
  • CEP 200: Introduction to Community, Environment & Planning (5 credits)
  • CEP 498: Planning Practicum (5 credits)

Winter Quarter

  • URBDP 422: Urban & Regional Geospatial Analysis (5 credits)
  • URBDP 480: Planning as a Profession (1 credit)
  • CEP 200: Introduction to CEP (5 credits)
  • CEP 498: Planning Practicum (5 credits)

Spring Quarter

  • URBDP 200: Introduction to Urbanization (5 credits)
  • URBDP 300: Introduction to Urban Planning (5 credits)
  • URBDP 423: Introduction to Urban Design (3 credits)
  • URBDP 480: Planning as a Profession (1 credit)
  • CEP 498: Planning Practicum (5 credits)

Courses are subject to change. Many graduate-level courses require an add code. Priority is given to students pursuing the minor in Urban Design and Planning or the undergraduate major in Community, Environment, and Planning.

Planning-related courses must be 300-level and above and may include URBDP prefixed courses as well as select courses in the CEP major and UW programs including GEOG, L ARCH, ENVIR, ESRM, CEE, and others. Planning-related courses are those with significant course content in urban planning theory, methods, practices and/or applications. Internships with planning agencies, firms or non-profit organizations may be counted, as well as Independent Study and/or internship or capstone courses with a strong urban planning focus.

Program Contact

Ulises Herrera,
Director of the Minor in Urban Design and Planning

uherrera@uw.edu