248 Best Urban Planning Degree Programs for 2025

The Masters in Geography program has two tracks: The thesis track (for students interested in conducting independent research; often these students enter a PhD program following the Masters) or the non-thesis track (for students interested in advancing their expertise without conducting independent research; these students typically enter the workforce following their degree).

Our department offers an accredited 3-year Master's degree in Architecture (M. ARCH), developed for students entering with a previously completed bachelor's degree in a program. Applicants with previous degrees in design will be viewed on a case-by-base basis. Years needed to complete the M. ARCH may be reduced from the three-year-plan. Accredited by NAAB, and incorporate coursework in architectural design.

Integrating theoretical and technical competencies, the Master of Architecture program nurtures future professionals through a comprehensive and flexible core curriculum. Students learn to analyze complex environments and propose innovative design solutions to the world's most urgent problems.

The Master of Urban Design (MUD) is an intensive post-professional degree program for individuals who seek a career in urban design practice or for current planning and design professionals who want to enhance and expand their existing practice with urban design knowledge and expertise.

Graduate education in bioregional planning is designed to prepare the student for work within a trans-disciplinary environment providing better alternatives for environmental decisions, policy and implementation. The program is jointly administered by the departments of Environment and Society and Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. The graduate will be qualified to practice in both private firms and various public sectors, which may include offices of the Department of the Interior, National Park Service, US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management; and various state, county, and community organizations.

The UNLV School of Architecture Master of Architecture Degree Program is a NAAB accredited program that offers prospective students two paths of study to the Master of Architecture (M. Arch.) professional degree; a two-year course of study for students possessing a pre-professional undergraduate degree in architecture and a three to a four-year course of study for students whose academic background is outside of architecture. Master of Architecture Program studies emphasizes the opportunities that the University and Southern Nevada settings have to inform and enrich the study of architecture and prepare students for meaningful careers and lifelong success. Whether through a research-based interdisciplinary study involving academic units across the UNLV campus or design inquiry exploring the unique qualities of Las Vegas, students that enroll in the program will be rewarded with an educational experience that is as unique and dynamic as this place. Centering on critical opportunities for architecture to serve society, the M. Arch. the degree program is organized into three distinct courses of study or concentrations: Building Systems and Sustainability, Hospitality and Entertainment Design, and Education Facilities Research & Design. Each concentration is composed of an interdisciplinary curriculum involving academic programs across the University of Nevada Las Vegas as well as the participation of internationally significant practitioners and researchers. The M. Arch. the degree program is thematically structured to emphasize comprehensive building design during the first year of study and concentration-focused research and design during the second year of study. Concurrent to both years, students enroll in concentration-related electives that inform and give breadth to students’ individual efforts in the final year of the program. The School of Architecture is fortunate to offer students a range of research labs and centers that enhance the graduate experience. These include the Downtown Design Center located in downtown Las Vegas, the SimLab emphasizing modes of fabrication, LIME emphasizing virtual realizations, the NEET Lab emphasizing renewable resources, and the Design-Build program which in its inaugural year competed in the 2013 Solar Decathlon.

Rice Architecture is the meeting point of design and discourse; of theory and practice; of past and future; of Rice and the world; and of our two inseparable aims: to educate architects and to position our graduates as leaders in a rapidly changing world.

Urban planning offers significant and diverse opportunities to solve the complex problems of communities and to shape their built environments. This profession is uniquely dedicated to the quality of life affected by place, to visions and policy consequences that extend beyond the near term, and to problem-solving that relies on multiple disciplines. Learn about what we teach and how you will learn.

The 48 hour Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning (M.S. URP) is designed to prepare students for leadership roles and careers in the public and private sectors of planning and designing communities and regions. The program has a strong focus on land use planning; design; policy; and economic, environmental, and cultural issues that shape urban and regional land development patterns in terms of infrastructure, housing, and open space systems. Emphasis is placed on developing research capabilities and graphic skills needed in planning. The degree program’s primary focus is to prepare students to become practitioners in the planning profession. The MSURP is taught with support of the Department of Public Administration in the College of Public Policy.

The Master of Architecture graduate program brings together the foundations and professional issues of architecture in a challenging, rigorous, and collaborative environment. With opportunities to design both collaboratively and independently, you’ll achieve an understanding of yourself as an emerging professional. In the Master of Architecture program at UL Lafayette, we have an intense focus on community outreach and topic-based studios. Our faculty are devoted to your professional preparation, and that means bringing great design to the Acadiana community and beyond. In our Master of Architecture studios, you’ll have the option to: • gain hands-on experience helping cities, small towns, and neighborhoods visualize their potential as communities; • design and build sustainable, market-rate homes; and • work in the Louisiana coastal territory to reduce environmental vulnerability, enhance ecosystem resilience, and promote cultural sustainability.

The Conway program is a lively mix of classroom instruction, applied studio work, student and visitor presentations, fieldwork, site visits, and informal discussions in the collective kitchen.

The Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development (MSRED) degree is an interdisciplinary one-year graduate program that prepares students from diverse backgrounds to become effective and influential participants in the fields of real estate finance, design, and development. We equip our graduates with a blended education in business, economics, sustainable design, urbanism, and legal issues. The MSRED degree is practice-oriented and emphasizes opportunities for students to gain experience and build a professional network in innovative for-profit, nonprofit and public settings.

The Architecture course is academic in approach, emphasising architecture as a cultural as well as a technological subject. The core of the teaching programme is in practical design carried out in studios (from the large scale of a city to the smallest detail), and supported by lectures on both the humanities (history and theory) and sciences (construction, environmental design and structures).

On this unique and exciting course, you will work within the context of a studio-based arts university, where everyone shares an interest in different forms of making. ARB and RIBA accredit BA Architecture (Part 1), so on the course, you will prepare for professional practice.

The program offers innovative interdisciplinary courses for future leaders.

This field aims to deepen knowledge of architecture and urban environments, such as housing and social infrastructure. Students learn technologies for creating safe and secure buildings as well as urban spaces in terms of functionality, disaster prevention, and environmental consideration.

Students with an undergraduate degree in architecture may apply directly to the 4th year of AHO's Master of Architecture programme. Throughout the 2,5 years (150 ECTS), the students can choose among a wide variety of available studio courses in order to pursue their individual interests and tailor their professional and academic competence. The architecture programme educates leading practitioners of the discipline. AHO is internationally respected and a preferred partner among the world’s leading universities. With a special focus on the integration of built form and the environment, it addresses contemporary issues in architecture, visions of the future and the heritage of Scandinavian design.

The doctorate trains PhDs on broad themes of Architecture, Earth Sciences and the Planets and Civil Engineering. This interdisciplinary research platform includes topics that concern the natural and man-made environments, the risks associated with them (hydro-geological risk, risks and safety of the built environment at different scales, planning, design and conservation of buildings and urban settlements) and georesources. In this context interdisciplinary, it is possible to develop specific doctoral themes capable of generating repercussions scientific and applicative in line with an increasingly complex society. The research activity follows an initial period of basic training and develops collaborations with research institutions and universities which, where possible, will allow doctoral students to obtain an Italian and foreign qualification (in co-tutorship) and any additional certification of Doctor Europaeus or Network Doctorate International.

In addition to acquiring a wide range of education necessary to understand the formation and issues of the local community, we will visit various sites in collaboration with the local community and deepen learning while experiencing it. Furthermore, while majoring in specialized fields such as public policy, local autonomy, economy, nature, culture, eating habits, tourism, social welfare, social education, and NPO, we will cultivate regional design abilities that apply these to the 21st century. We will develop human resources who can take the lead in government agencies, private companies, NPOs, etc. as leaders of the local community.

During the Master in Architecture at the Academy of Architecture, you will learn how to find and promote your own position within the broad field of architecture. The concurrency education model, a proven combination of study and work experience, inspired guest lecturers from the field and the small-scale and international study programme in the center of the city, offers all the tools you need to develop into a fully-fledged architect, so that you can blossom into an inspiring spatial artist with your own architectural signature, who is fully equipped to play a central role in the design process.