Practicing planners report that one of the best things about being a planner is that each day brings new challenges and fresh opportunities. The Masters in Urban Planning at UWM seeks to equip students with the skills they will need wherever time and their personal careers may take them. Our program encourages students to recognize the long-range interdependencies between cities and their surrounding suburban and rural areas. The core courses lay the foundation for understanding the dynamics of metropolitan areas and develop the skills for addressing the problems and opportunities they face. The first year core focuses on developing the skills planners need to develop alternatives, analyze policies, and successfully implement programs that emerge from the planning process.
Core courses require students to sharpen their analytic and communication skills.
Finally, since the best plans are useless if they sit on a shelf, the curriculum stresses the political and organizational skills needed to successfully implement plans and policies. Planning theory introduces students to alternative perspectives on the best ways planners approach problem solving. Students learn the basic steps in policy analysis and public participation in policy development and planning. Urban planning also includes a strong spatial component. The first year core courses stress urban geography, including how cities form and the geographic distribution of social and economic characteristics.