Many graduates from the ICP concentration work for Indigenous nations, at local municipal planning departments, provincial and federal agencies, consulting firms, and non-profit organisations. Graduates from ICP have found careers within a range of communities and organisations including but not limited to:

Indigenous peoples everywhere have been stewards of their lands and resources, planned their communities, and passed on teachings since time immemorial. The Musqueam people revitalized this tradition in 2011 by creating a Comprehensive Community Plan (CCP). 

In February 2012, Chief and Council of the Musqueam Indian Band endorsed a partnership between the Band and the School of Community & Regional Planning for the design and delivery of a new curriculum on Indigenous community planning. This agreement was made possible by the UBC-Musqueam MOA and endorsed by the UBC-Musqueam Development Committee. The ICP concentration’s partnership and cultural immersion approach is unique among planning programs in North America. 

In February 2013, Musqueam’s CCP was recognized by and included on UN Habitat’s website as a Best Practice plan for sustainable community development.

Our intent is to train a new generation of community planners who will break with the colonial legacy and culture of planning in order to work in respectful partnership with Indigenous communities.

We seek to equip emerging community planners with the necessary theory, skills, knowledge, and capacity to support Indigenous communities in achieving their own aspirations for land stewardship, cultural revitalization, strong governance, health and well-being. 

Our approach is grounded in community and land-based learning, emphasizes mutual and transformative learning, and integrates these principles with grounding in Indigenous worldviews (ways of being, knowing, and doing).

Our scope is Canada-wide, but focuses on practical learning with/in First Nations communities in BC, where historical legacies as well as current political, economic and demographic realities present numerous complex issues, including governance, resource management, land use, health, education and employment.

SCARP gratefully acknowledges funding from the Real Estate Foundation of BC (2012-2022); Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) (2016-2021); the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund of UBC (2011-2014); and the Faculty of Applied Science at UBC, without whose generous support this program would not exist.

Students in ICP complete a modified set of general MCRP requirements plus a set of ICP-specific requirements. Foremost, this includes undergoing a Practicum (instead of the Planning Studio) which partners pairs of students with an Indigenous community for eight or more months to work on a planning project (typically a comprehensive community plan).

ICP students complete the program requirements over two academic years and six academic terms.

Throughout the ICP core curriculum and practicum, students will explore:

• The meaning and significance of Indigenous planning as a re-emerging theory of action among Indigenous community planners, civic leaders, and professionals
• Values underpinning Indigenous approaches to community development
• How an Indigenous planning paradigm challenges existing planning practice in Canada
• How mainstream planning needs to adapt to achieve recognition of and justice for Indigenous peoples
• Challenges faced by First Nations in BC when implementing projects in their communities
• The impacts of surrounding jurisdictions (municipal, provincial and federal) on Indigenous planning
• The impacts of First Nations community development (social and economic) on surrounding jurisdictions
• Knowledge and skills needed for working with/in an Indigenous community
• Concepts, praxis, methodology, and ethical/cultural considerations regarding decolonizing planning
• The role of non-Indigenous planners in Indigenous community planning and development