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• Macdonald-Harrington Building, Room 400
• 815 Sherbrooke Street West
• Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6

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

Modern urban planning developed into a profession in the early decades of the 20th century, largely as a response to the appalling sanitary, social and economic conditions of rapidly developing industrial cities. Initially, the disciplines of architecture, landscape architecture, civil engineering and public health provided the nucleus of concerned professionals; beautification schemes and infrastructure works marked the early stages of public intervention in the 19th century. Architects, engineers and public health specialists were joined by economists, sociologists, lawyers and geographers as the complexities of the city's problems came to be more fully understood and public pressure mounted for their solution. Contemporary urban and regional planning techniques for survey, analysis, design and implementation developed from an interdisciplinary synthesis of these various fields, as did the practice of urban design.

Today, urban planning can be described as the collective management of urban development. It is concerned with the welfare of communities, control of the use of land, design of the built environment, including transportation and communication networks, and protection and enhancement of the natural environment. It is at once a technical and a political process which brings together actors from the public, private and community spheres. Planners participate in that process in a variety of ways, as designers and analysts, advocates and mediators, facilitating the search for equitable and efficient solutions to problems of urban growth and development.

McGill University was the first institution in Canada to offer a full-time planning program. An interdisciplinary program was established in 1947, in which students combined a master's degree in Urban Planning with one in a related field. An autonomous program was established in 1972. It became the School of Urban Planning in 1976, a unit within the Faculty of Engineering. It has strong links with the School of Architecture, which is housed in the same building.

Students come to the School from diverse backgrounds, the physical sciences, the traditional professions, such as architecture and engineering, and the social sciences. Alumni of the School work as planners and designers at various levels of government, in non-profit organizations and with private consulting firms. Their expertise ranges from historic preservation to transportation planning, from housing development to computer imaging. They devote their efforts in increasing numbers to environmental planning and sustainable development.

The School is a partner in the Montreal Interuniversity Group "Urbanization and Development", a consortium recognized by CIDA as a Centre of Excellence, which is devoted to the study of urban problems and the formulation of policies in developing regions. Faculty and students collaborate actively with members of other McGill departments, notably Architecture, Geography, Civil Engineering and Law, and with colleagues at other institutions in Canada and abroad.

The objective of the School is to produce qualified professional urban planners for the public and the private sectors. Training is provided at the postgraduate level; the degree offered is the Master of Urban Planning (M.U.P.). There are two formal specializations available: in Urban Design and in Transportation Planning. All M.U.P. students may also opt to spend a semester in Barbados as part of the Barbados Field Study Semester which focuses on Global Environmental Issues. Details concerning each of these concentrations may be seen at www.mcgill.ca/urbandesign, and www.mcgill.ca/bfss respectively.

Upon completion of the two-year program of studies, graduates are expected to have acquired basic planning skills, a broad understanding of urban issues, and specialized knowledge in a field of their own choice.

The program of study offered by the School is fully 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.

For details of the M.U.P. admission requirements and curriculum, consult the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Calendar, available at www.mcgill.ca/students/courses/calendars.