The Masters in Community and Regional Planning (MCRP) degree is awarded upon satisfactory completion of a program consisting of 60 credits over two academic years. Students may satisfy up to 9 credits of this requirement through relevant courses in other UBC departments and/or at other universities.
The MCRP is a “generalist” degree program, in the sense that (1) all MCRP students must complete a particular set of courses that are designed to provide them with the foundational knowledge, skills, and attitudes that professional planners need to enter and succeed in the workplace, and (2) all MCRP graduates receive a Master of Community and Regional Planning degree, with no specialization or any other distinction indicated on the diploma.
Despite the generalist orientation of the program overall, however, each annual incoming cohort of roughly 40-45 MCRP students includes 10 that are admitted into the Indigenous Community Planning (ICP) concentration. Students in the ICP concentration must complete all of the general MCRP requirements plus a set of ICP-specific requirements.
Students in the general MCRP program will complete the following requirements:
- PLAN 500: Comparative Perspectives on Planning History and Futures (3 credits)
- PLAN 501: Reconciliation and Planning (3 credits)
- PLAN 502: Sustainability and Resilience in Planning (3 credits)
- PLAN 504: Urban Design and Visual Representation (3 credits)
- PLAN 505: Planning Theory, Values, and Ethics (3 credits)
- PLAN 506: Information and Analysis in Planning (3 credits)
- PLAN 507: Engagement and Facilitation for Planners (3 credits)
- PLAN 511: The Legal and Institutional Context of Planning (3 credits)
- PLAN 512: Urban Economics, Infrastructure, and Real Estate Issues in Planning (3 credits)
- PLAN 513: Making and Implementing Community and Regional Plans (3 credits)
- PLAN 540: Planning Praxis (6 credits)
- PLAN 541: Planning Studio (6 credits)
Students in the ICP concentration will complete the following requirements:
- PLAN 500: Comparative Perspectives on Planning History and Futures (3 credits)
- PLAN 502: Sustainability and Resilience in Planning (3 credits)
- PLAN 504: Urban Design and Visual Representation (3 credits)
- PLAN 505: Planning Theory, Values, and Ethics (3 credits)
- PLAN 506: Information and Analysis in Planning (3 credits)
- PLAN 507: Engagement and Facilitation for Planners (3 credits)
- PLAN 511: The Legal and Institutional Context of Planning (3 credits)
- PLAN 514: Indigenous Planning: Ways of Being, Knowing and Doing (3 credits)
- PLAN 515: Indigenous Law, Governance and Community Planning (3 credits)
- PLAN 516: Planning for Community Economic Development (3 credits)
- PLAN 543: Indigenous Community Planning Practicum (12 credits)
Teaching and Learning
The MCRP program strikes a balance in teaching and learning between developing the competence required to enter professional practice today, and the intellectual preparation needed to continue to function adequately in increasingly responsible positions in a rapidly changing world. The program covers the substance and methods of professional planning practice, as well as the process and institutional arrangements for planning, its ideological basis, and the role and ethical responsibility of the planner. From the student's point of view, the program has the following salient characteristics:
- opportunities for students with narrow disciplinary training to broaden their knowledge, the better to assume responsibilities in planning and management;
- opportunities for students with a generalist background to acquire greater disciplinary rigour in a planning-related field of their choice;
- flexibility within a structured format to design a program of studies to satisfy individual needs;
- an emphasis on formal coursework, studio experience, and an internship.