About

Message from the Department Chair

Who We Are

The University of Florida’s Department of Urban and Regional Planning is one of the nation’s strongest graduate planning programs. Our faculty members are internationally recognized in planning education, research, and professional practice. They have been active in various public and community service activities, including working with the Governor and Legislature in designing Florida’s landmark comprehensive Growth Management Act and participating in the State’s Governor’s Affordable Housing Study Commission.

What We Do

The Department is known for its creative use of planning information systems and technologies and interdisciplinary research and education in:

Sustainability
Planning information and analysis
Transportation and land use planning
Urban design
Housing and community development
Economic development
Historic preservation
International planning

Members of our faculty together with our students have received awards from the American Planning Association. We offer several certificates at both the graduate and undergraduate level. In addition, we collaborate with faculty within our college and the rest of the University to offer many joint and concurrent degrees. We offer concurrent degrees with Law, Civil Engineering and Latin American Studies. Our students can also get certificates through our many Interdisciplinary Concentrations as well as a minor in Real Estate and Finance.

How We Do It

Our department offers exceptional learning and research experiences for our students. The students come from all over the world; many of them actively participate in faculty research as research assistants. Our goal is to educate the future leaders of the planning profession in the Master program and to develop future scholars in the Ph.D. program. We expect our graduates to provide both vision and leadership within the profession. Our graduates have, and will continue to participate in the transformation of the planning profession in Florida and throughout the nation. Our alumni are in leadership positions in local, state, and federal agencies; the private sector; and nonprofit organizations.

The Department is part of the College of Design, Construction and Planning, a prominent and unique college in the United States that covers the full spectrum of the built environment and urban development and includes Urban Planning, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, Building Construction and Historic Preservation. The Department has four research centers:

The Geoplan Center
The Center for Building Better Communities
The Center for Health and the Built Environment
The Center for International Design and Planning

In addition, faculty in our department are also associated with other research centers within the college and across campus, including the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies and the Center for Multimodal Solutions for Congestion Mitigation.

Where We’re Heading

In these research centers and through other research activities of our faculty, we provide a productive environment for our students to participate in interdisciplinary research and learning. Many relationships between individual disciplines within the college and around the University are mutually beneficial; urban planning faculty and students are involved in various interdisciplinary research projects. We recognize the value of team building – planners working with and leading interdisciplinary teams that solve complex planning research projects and “real world” problems. We select research projects that expand the horizon of planning theory and provide students with a “hands on” environment within which to study and grow as professional planners.

In summary, we have outstanding and productive faculty that teach and advise quality students. We are proud of our achievements in the past in urban and regional planning research and education, and we are looking forward to a more prominent future.