M.U.P. Degree Requirements

All students must complete 42 credit hours, which normally involves 4 semesters of full-time study.* While completing the following degree requirements, graduate students are expected to understand and follow Office Graduate Studies policies relevant to their student status and academic standing.

In addition to coursework, students must have the chance to synthesize and demonstrate what they have learned in their degree program. This can be done through either a Master's final exam (non-thesis option) or a thesis. The Master's final exam option is most common in the Urban Planning program as most graduates go on to become planning practitioners. Occasionally, students who decide they would like to pursue an academic career or wish to delve into one area of study complete the thesis option.

Required Core Courses

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
UBPL 705	Urban Economic Theory and Analysis	3
UBPL 736	Planning Law and Institutions	3
UBPL 741	Foundations of Compassionate Critical Thinking	3
UBPL 742	Applied Data and Spatial Analysis	3
UBPL 763	Politics and Public Management	3
UBPL 777	Equity, Justice, and American Cities	3
UBPL 780	Climate Change and Hazards Planning	3
UBPL 785	History and Theory of Planning	3
Total Hours		24

*An accelerated B.A.-M.U.P degree is also available.  Please see the academic catalog for more information.

Specializations

The curriculum requires each student to specialize in one of the following substantive areas:

• Housing and development planning
• Sustainable land use planning
• Transportation planning

The student should declare a specialization by the third semester of their course of study.

Housing and Development Planning

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
UBPL 710	Housing Policy and Planning	3
UBPL 715	Community and Neighborhood Revitalization	3
UBPL 764	Real Estate Development	3
UBPL 767	Creative Placemaking	3
Other courses may be approved by the Urban Planning Director.
Total Hours		12

Sustainable Land Use Planning

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
UBPL 720	Sustainable Land Use Policy and Planning	3
UBPL 725	Environmental Planning Techniques	3
UBPL 730	City and County Planning	3
UBPL 735	Site Planning and Design	3
Other courses may be approved by the Urban Planning Director.
Total Hours		12

Transportation Planning

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
UBPL 707	Sustainability and the Future of Transportation	3
UBPL 750	Transportation Policy and Planning	3
UBPL 756	Data Driving Transportation	3
UBPL 758	Transportation for Livable Cities	3
Other courses may be approved by the Urban Planning Director.
Total Hours		12

Elective Courses

In addition to core and specialization courses, students must take 6 additional elective credit hours outside their specialization. Any UBPL class can be taken as an elective. Graduate level classes taken outside of Urban Planning require the Urban Planning Director of Graduate Studies' approval. Thesis option students complete the elective course requirement with 6 credit hours of UBPL 806.

Master's Final Exam Project Option

The Master's final examination is the main culminating experience before students graduate. The examination provides a learning experience that encourages the student to synthesize the knowledge gained through course work and tests the student’s competence as a generalist/specialist planner.

The examination consists of the student preparing a written response to a scenario or case study in which they are asked to synthesize knowledge gained in their course work and apply it within a particular context.  The Urban Planning faculty committee appoints a 2-member Final Project committee for each student’s Final Project. The grading committee is selected from the full-time faculty in the Urban Planning Program. One grader teaches at least one of the core courses and is outside the student’s specialization and the other grader teaches within the student’s specialization. The Final Project committee assesses and grades the exam with Honors, Pass, or Retake.  Up to two retake attempts are permitted.  The department will determine an appropriate minimum interval between exam attempts.

Master's Final Exam Thesis Option

The thesis provides an opportunity for the student to apply individual research skills in the context of their interest. The thesis is a continuation of the student’s course of study rather than a separate academic effort. The format, medium, and focus of the thesis varies with the problem addressed. Students must enroll in a minimum of 6 credit hours of UBPL 806. A student desiring to prepare a thesis must develop, with the assistance of a faculty advisor, a thesis proposal to be submitted to the faculty thesis committee no later than the first day of classes of the semester before the semester in which the student plans to graduate. A committee’s approval is required before the student may pursue the thesis option. The 3-member thesis committee must meet the requisite configuration defined in the Master’s Student Oral Exam Committee Composition policy.  A final general examination on the thesis and course work is held.

The final general examination is a thesis defense in front of the committee.  Three faculty members assess and grade the exam with Honors, Pass, or Unsatisfactory.  If the committee assesses the thesis defense as unsatisfactory, it may be repeated on the recommendation of the committee up to two times.  In any case, the department will determine the appropriate minimum intervals between attempts.