This course undertakes a detailed, comparative examination of the history, and possible futures of, planning in a global context. It examines planning in diverse settings and highlights the ways in which planning has been and might be conceived and practiced across the Global North and South. It seeks to introduce students to the wide variety of planning paradigms, approaches and techniques that have been deployed by planners and other actors who create and are affected by plans. The course highlights the differences and similarities in the way planning has been conceived and undertaken across geographies. It pays particular attention to the debates, trade-offs, compromises and tensions that have dominated the way planners have approached their work and how they conceptualize and plan for the future. Rather than focusing on descriptions of key events or people (although those are covered too), the course is structured around a number of important analytic themes that can help students understand the work of planners across a wide range of temporal, geographic, political, economic and cultural settings.

PLAN 501 is a core course of the Masters of Community and Regional Planning (MCRP) program at SCARP. This course explores the relationships between planning (as a discipline and profession) and reconciliation efforts happening in cities and communities across Canada. We will reflect on questions like: What is the role of planning in perpetuating settler colonialism? How might planning contribute to reconciliation efforts moving forward? How can planners decolonize their planning practice? During this course we will: contextualize ourselves within Indigenous and settler-colonial histories; critically examine what reconciliation means (and to who) and how it plays out in the ‘era of reconciliation’ in what is now known as Canada, learn from Indigenous planners and worldviews, and; examine what it might look for planners to decolonize their practice and genuinely contribute to reconciliation efforts through city and community planning.

How sustainability and resilience concepts shape planning practice, including planning’s successes and failures in addressing environmental problems. Policies and tools that communities can adopt and employ in response to climate change, loss of biodiversity, and related challenges.

As a course, PLAN 504 provides a exploratory journey through the vast world of visualizing the city. Students will gain an understanding of the types and hierarchies of visualizations of the city and how to interpret them and use them to read the city. As such, it provides a basic introduction to drawing type fundamentals (plan, section, elevation, paraline, etc.) as well as techniques of representation (use of hue, value, etc.). The latter is supplemented with design analyses exercises (deconstructing different representations) and culminates in a ‘city visual’ design exercise. The course is currently scheduled to meet twice a week for 1.5 hours each session.

This course undertakes an examination of planning theory, with a particular focus on values and ethics, and explores the role of these topics in planning practice and in policymaking more broadly. It builds on the foundation established in Plan 500, which focused on the history of planning and on the theories and ideas that have animated planning, as undertaken by diverse actors, over the long term. In this course, we will pay particular attention to the important values-oriented and ethical questions that planners are likely to face in their work and which are also at the centre of much scholarly work on planning. Since planning as a profession and a field of intellectual inquiry is rich in theories, we will narrow our focus on a subset of themes and questions that are likely to play an important role in students’ lives as they go on to work in planning and which can provide useful lenses for guiding decision making and action. In short, the course will seek to be as applied as a theory course can be. The course will involve extensive in-class discussion, applied case exercises and site visits.

In this course, students will learn how to gather and analyze information for use in community and regional planning to support decision-making. The overall objective is to help students become critical consumers, competent producers, and effective communicators of information in the field of planning. The course will cover the basics of quantitative and qualitative data and analysis methods to help students gain skills they can apply while working as planners. The course will also introduce critical perspectives of how analysis and information are used within planning and policy processes to strengthen students’ ability to recognize the limitations of these tools.

Mindsets, approaches and techniques to facilitation and public engagement for planners. Includes significant hands-on learning.

The legal framework in which planning operates, including major legislation and institutions across Canadian provinces. Particular areas of planning law, including growth management and cultural heritage management.

The real estate development process, from both public and private sector perspectives. Land economics and how economic forces shape land use decisions. Diversified economic development. Public infrastructure and services.

The process communities and regions follow to create plans, including identifying issues, setting goals, and developing polices to achieve the goals. Tools that communities/regions employ to implement plans and monitor progress. Roles of different actors in creating and implementing plans.

Contemporary Indigenous community planning. The political, social and cultural protocols and values, history, philosophy, social structure, traditional knowledge, and ecology of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.

This course (PLAN 515) will introduce students to the laws within which Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and particularly in British Columbia, live, and which impact their communities and Nations. Students will gain an understanding of how law and governance inform planning with Indigenous communities.

This course will focus on the planning process, including how to get started, community engagement (stakeholders and public participation), situation assessments, visioning, issues identification, objective elicitation/structuring, option evaluation/prioritization, action planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.

NOTE: This course is in effect as of 2025/26 academic year
An Internship involving a three-way partnership between student, external organization, and SCARP. By completing at least 80 hours of supervised professional work, students develop professional and technically relevant planning skills and capabilities through guided "hands on" experience in a workplace environment. 

This course explores affordable housing policy and planning in BC through a housing planner’s lens. It covers: (1) Introduction to Housing Planning and Key Concepts; (2) Indigenous Housing; (3) Government Tools, Strategies and Obligations; (4) Understanding Housing Types and Tenures Across the Continuum: Market, Non-Market & Homelessness; (5) New Ideas and Innovative Practices. We apply lenses of Intersectionality and Social Determinants of Health on the topics explored in the class. Its geographic focus is on rural, peri-urban and urban communities in British Columbia.