This 24-month program is designed to continuously anticipate and respond to the world’s rapidly changing urban, regional, and global environments. Graduates from MCRP work in a wide range of exciting and influential jobs in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. In recent years, 95% of the graduates from the MCRP program have secured planning-related employment within one year of graduation.
MCRP is the only master’s degree in Planning accredited in both Canada (by the Professional Standards Board of the Canadian Institute of Planners) and the United States (by the Planning Accreditation Board of the American Planning Association). This dual accreditation, with its broader curriculum and employment eligibility, means graduates are qualified to work as planners in Canada, the U.S., and any other country that recognizes Canadian and American planning accreditation.
The program provides foundational knowledge, skills, and attitudes that professional planners need to enter and succeed in the workplace. As a generalist program, its diploma does not specify a particular specialization or other distinction. However, students in the ICP concentration complete a modified set of general and ICP-specific requirements.
All courses listed here are available only to those enrolled in the MCRP program; with the exception that MAP/MSCP students can access all elective courses available to MCRP students except core MCRP courses and studios reserved for MCRP students only. An exception can also be made for students who want to audit PLAN 508, Foundations of Planning Theory and History.
Update for 2022/2023 academic year
SCARP has updated the course requirements for all future sessions of the MCRP program, in order to keep pace with a rapidly-changing world and the range of problems that planners try to solve. These updates were shaped by a consultation between SCARP faculty, students, alumni, and the Canadian Institute of Planners and the American Planning Association.
The updated program addresses some of the biggest challenges facing society today, including climate change, systemic injustice, and planning for more resilient communities; as well as ongoing efforts to repair relationships with Indigenous people and decolonize planning in Canada.
The updated program is in effect as of the 2022/2023 academic year. Students enrolled in September 2021 will not be held to the updated requirements, and can proceed as per their established program plan.
Curriculum
The curriculum describes professional planning practice, the process and institutional arrangements for planning, planning’s ideological basis, and the role and ethical responsibility of planners.
The program also offers:
- Opportunities for students with narrow disciplinary training to broaden their knowledge, in order to better assume responsibilities in planning and management
- Opportunities for students with a generalist background to acquire greater disciplinary rigour in a planning-related topical area of their choice
- Flexibility within a structured format to design a program of studies to satisfy individual needs
- Formal coursework, studio experience, and internship alike
Concentrations
A concentration is a specific area of emphasis within the program. You are not required to declare a concentration; they are an optional tool to help you customize your school experience. Declaring a concentration will inform the types of classes you will take to fulfill the requirements for your degree. A concentration will also help inform potential employers about your specific area of interest and expertise.
As of the 2022/2023 academic years, SCARP's official concentration option is Indigenous Community Planning (ICP). You may speak to your Faculty Advisor regarding the prospect of a custom concentration.
Please select the version of the Program as per your enrollment year.
Program Structure
- 30 credits in required courses, tailored to the evolving demands of the planning profession
- 18 credits of elective courses you select based on interests and professional aspirations
- A second-year 2-term studio course that integrates theories and methods covered throughout the curriculum into a single team-based project, with a real client or community group
- Internship experience and mentorship opportunities with local planning practitioners
Code | Credits | Description | Required for
| Required for
| Required for
|
| PLAN 508 | 3 | Foundations of Planning Theory and History | x | x | x |
| PLAN 509 | 2 | Urbanism as a Global Way of Life | x | x | x |
| PLAN 510 | 2 | Environment and Sustainability Concepts for Planning Practice | x | x | x |
| PLAN 521 | 3 | Quantitative Skills for Planners | x | x | x |
| PLAN 522 | 2 | Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis | x | x | x |
| PLAN 523 | 2 | The Profession of Planning | x | x | x |
| PLAN 524 | 2 | Legal Concepts for Professional Planning | x | x | x |
| PLAN 525 | 2 | Planning Practice Methods | x | x | x |
| PLAN 526 | 6 | Selected Topics in Experiential Learning: The Planning Studio | x | x | x |
| PLAN 527 | 3 | Internship | x | x | x |
| PLAN 528A | 3 | Capstone Professional Report | x | x | |
| PLAN 528B | 6 | Capstone Professional Report - Indigenous Community Planning | x | ||
| PLAN 503 | 3 | Strategic Planning for Community Economic Development | x | ||
| PLAN 517 | 3 | Theory and Methods of Urban Design | x | ||
| PLAN 533 | 3 | Indigenous Community Planning: Ways of Being & Knowing | x | ||
| PLAN 553 | 3 | Indigenous Law and Governance | x | ||
| PLAN 587A | 3 | Urban Design | x | ||
| PLAN 587B | 3 | Urban Design Studio | x | ||
| PLAN 595 | 3 | Negotiation, Facilitation, and Mediation: Principle & Practices | x | ||
| TOTAL CREDITS (not including elective requirements): | 30 | 45 | 42 | ||
Electives
Electives can be courses within SCARP or in other departments that relate to the student’s interests. No more than 6 elective credits may be at the undergraduate (300/400) level.
Year 1 Term 1 | Year 1 Term 2 | Year 1 Summer | Year 2 Term 1 | Year 2 Term 2 | Year 2 Summer |
| PLAN 508 | PLAN 509 | PLAN 527 | PLAN 523 | PLAN528 (optional) | PLAN 528A |
| PLAN 510 | PLAN 522 | PLAN 526 | PLAN 526 (continued) | ||
| PLAN 521 | PLAN 524 | ||||
| PLAN 525 |
Students in the Indigenous Community Planning (ICP) concentration complete a modified set of general MCRP requirements plus a set of ICP-specific requirements.
Year 1 Term 1 | Year 1 Term 2 | Year 1 Summer | Year 2 Term 1 | Year 2 Term 2 | Year 2 Summer |
| PLAN 508 | PLAN 509 | PLAN 527A | PLAN 523 | ||
| PLAN 510 | PLAN 522 | PLAN 526/PLAN528B | PLAN 526/PLAN 528B | ||
| PLAN 521 | PLAN 524 | PLAN 503 | |||
| PLAN 525 | PLAN 553 | ||||
| PLAN 533 | PLAN 595 |
YEAR 1 TERM 1 | YEAR 1 TERM 2 | YEAR 1 SUMMER | YEAR 2 TERM 1 | YEAR 2 TERM 2 | YEAR 2 SUMMER |
PLAN 508 | PLAN 509 | PLAN 527A | PLAN 523 | PLAN 528A | PLAN 528A |
| PLAN 510 | PLAN 522 | PLAN 587B | PLAN 526 | PLAN 526 (continued) | |
| PLAN 521 | PLAN 524 | ||||
| PLAN 525 | PLAN 587A | ||||
| PLAN 517 |
For more information regarding course dates and times, please visit the UBC Course Schedule.
| PLAN 503 Planning for Community Economic Development Instructor: Will Trousdale Available during: Winter Session | This course focuses on the planning process, examining key issues such as 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. |
| PLAN 508 Foundations of Planning Theory and History Instructor: Leonie Sandercock Available during: Winter Session | This course explores the history of planning ideas and theories. What are the modern roots of (community and regional) planning, its colonial history, and how does this shape and perhaps limit contemporary practice? Why do we need planning? Why is it important to theorise about planning? This course covers the leading thinkers and schools of thought and is primarily focused on western ideas about planning. |
| PLAN 509 Urbanism as a Global Way of Life Instructor: Su-Jan Yeo Available during: Winter Session | This course is structured around the intersection of two essential themes that shape the theory and practice of planning in our world today: the shift to an increasingly urban world, and the expansion of interconnectivities between places, referred to as globalization, which has had such an important influence on the nature of urbanism around the world. |
| PLAN 516 Planning for Community Economic Development Instructor: Available during: | 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. |
| PLAN 517 Theory and Methods of Urban Design Instructor: Erick Villagomez Available during: Winter Session | This course focuses on the fundamentals of urban design theory and methods, and its application to neighbourhood design. This is a required course for Urban Design students and a foundation for anyone interested in gaining basic urban design literacy. It meets the distributional requirement for the Urban Design and Transportation area within SCARP’s Masters level degree program. PLAN 517 is an entry point into the urban design field, from which students can build deeper understanding, with additional coursework and focused research. |
| PLAN 521 Quantitative Skills for Planners Instructor: Stephanie Chang Available during: Winter Session | The course enables students to develop basic capabilities in working with quantitative data for analysis in professional planning practice, including the appropriate use of statistical measures. This includes developing core vocabulary, conceptual understandings, critical awareness, analytical capabilities, and computer skills. |
| PLAN 522 Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis Instructor: Nora Angeles Available during: Winter Session | This two-credit course focuses on the what, why, who and how of qualitative mixed methods research design, data collection and analysis relevant to professional planning practice. This practice-based course provides beginning and more advanced students an opportunity to prepare for their professional careers. Students will learn about and apply each step of various methods and strategies in qualitative data collection and analysis useful for planning practice |
| PLAN 523 The Profession of Planning Instructor: Emilie Adin Available during: Winter Session | This course is built around a framing of “planning as leadership”. It explores what professional practice means, and develops the competencies and skills of leadership in students. |
| PLAN 524 Legal Concepts for Professional Planning Instructor: Bill Buholzer Available during: Winter Session | This course is designed to familiarize planning students with the legal principles that will apply to their work as policy advisors, decision-makers and advocates. Planning law can be, as one Supreme Court of Canada judge observed in a recent case, a “dry, forbidding and not very fashionable subject”. Yet on a daily basis, Canadian courts make decisions in cases involving collisions of sometimes epic proportions between community interests in sound management of land use and resources, and private property and business interests – cases at whose core can be found the work of a planner. Plans are implemented by means of regulatory systems whose operation is governed by certain legal principles, and it’s essential that those designing and operating such regulatory systems, and beneficial that those whose activities are subject to the regulations, know the relevant law. |
| PLAN 525 Planning Practice Methods Instructor: Mark Stevens Available during: Winter Session | This course examines/evaluates issues related to (1) community decision-making; (2) creating community plans; and (3) implementing community plans. |
| PLAN 526 The Planning Studio Instructor: N/A Available during: Winter Session | The planning studio is an intensive year-long professionally oriented course in which students partner with community, municipal and private sector organizations to identify problems and propose solutions. |
| PLAN 527A / PLAN 527B MCRP Internship Instructor: N/A Available: Winter, Summer Available during: Winter and Summer Sessions | The Internship Program that provides the mechanism for students to earn academic credit for relevant work experience outside the University. An Internship is essentially a three-way partnership among the student, the agency and the School. The primary goal of the Internship Program is to assist students to develop professional skills and capabilities through guided "hands on" experience in a workplace environment while gaining academic credit. |
| PLAN 528A / PLAN 528B MCRP Capstone Instructor: N/A 528A Available during: Winter and Summer Sessions 528B Available during: Winter Session | The major purpose of the Capstone is to provide students an opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of their planning education and to synthesize their knowledge of planning. The Capstone serves as a culmination of the MCRP degree program. It allows students to articulate and demonstrate the competency they have developed in their chosen focus area, through synthesis and/or application of the knowledge, skills, and capabilities they have gained in the program. It is expected that students will be able to use the Capstone output to demonstrate their professional competency to potential employers. |
| PLAN 531 Planning for Disaster-Resilient Communities Instructor: Stephanie Chang Available during: Winter Session | This course will study natural disasters from the perspective of risk analysis, risk reduction, and planning for disaster-resilient communities. The focus is primarily on Canada and the U.S. but includes disaster risk globally. |
| PLAN 532 Strategic Planning: Developing and Implementing Policy Plans Instructor: Ann McAfee Available during: Winter Session | The first half of the course introduces the theory and practice of developing and implementing strategic/policy plans using examples from metropolitan, city, and neighbourhood plans. A range of topics including land use, transportation, environment, economic, social, and financial directions are combined into integrated plans for sustainable futures. The course considers the challenges and opportunities of engaging broad public participation in plan preparation and implementation. The second half of the course explores techniques for writing and managing plans both at the city and regional-metropolitan levels. Classes will introduce example plan making under various governance systems including the challenge of integrating new issues such as resilience into established plans. |
| PLAN 533 Indigenous Planning: Ways of Being, Knowing, and Doing Instructor: Leonie Sandercock Available during: Winter Session | The intent of the course is to empower emerging planners by introducing substantive knowledge of contemporary Indigenous community planning, built on a foundational understanding of the political, social and cultural protocols and values, history, philosophy, social structure, traditional knowledge, and ecology of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. |
| PLAN 534 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems Instructor: Bill Gushue Available during: Winter Session | This course introduces students to the theory, history and capabilities behind GIS, with customized laboratory exercises that incorporate urban design and planning themes. |
| PLAN 535 Transportation Planning and Analysis Instructor: Alex Bigazzi Available during: Winter Session | This course covers fundamental urban travel demand modelling techniques and aims to help students understand how travel models are used in the planning process. |
| PLAN 542 Practical Practice: City Planning as a Craft Instructor: Larry Beasley Available during: Winter Session | This course will explore the approach, roles, styles, and essential skills of planners in the normal situations of practical urban planning. Typical planning formats will be surveyed: area planning; policy planning; development management. Regulatory tools, development economics, practical urban design, and applied sustainability will be emphasized. |
| PLAN 548D Current Issues in Planning: Real Estate and Planning Instructor: Julia Harten Available during: Summer Session | Cities are not built by planners. Instead, urban space and the built environment are the product of negotiated interests. This course focuses on the real estate development perspective on the city. Students will develop a rich understanding of how urban land markets operate and how developers and investors assess and create value. The objective of this course is to equip students with the tools to navigate the planning-real estate developer relationship from a solid foundation of urban economics, urban political economy, and the basics of investment analysis and valuation. |
| PLAN 548E Current Issues in Planning: LED Theory, Issues and Applications Instructor: Will Trousdale Available during: Summer Session | Local Economic Development (LED) is centered on local resources, capacity and leadership to build sustainable communities, towns and cities. The course will introduce students to the principles, approaches and tools to LED through lessons and case studies drawn from Canadian and developing countries context. Include prerequisites. |
| PLAN 548G Current Issues in Planning: Critical Spatial Thinking for Urban Planning Instructor: James Connolly Available during: Summer Session | This course prepares urban planning students to be critical spatial thinkers. Students develop skills in geographic information systems as a tool for solving planning problems while critically engaging with the contextual dynamics that impact spatial data and analysis. |
| PLAN 548K Current Issues in Planning: Plan Evaluation Instructor: Mark Stevens Available during: Winter Session | This course examines/evaluates issues related to evaluating plans. This course builds upon material on plan creation and implementation by students are exposed to in the course, PLAN 525. |
| PLAN 548L Current Issues in Planning: Urban Transportation Systems Instructor: Alex Bigazzi Available during: Winter Session | This course provides an overview of multi-modal urban transportation systems, including key characteristics, interactions, and analytical techniques. There are no prerequisites for the course, but some quantitative analysis is required and students should be comfortable working with spreadsheet software. |
| PLAN 548M Current Issues in Planning: Urban Planning and Policy in the Global South Instructor: Michael Hooper Available during: Winter Session | This course undertakes a detailed examination of urban planning and policy in the Global South. It adopts a seminar format, with most class sessions involving a discussion of readings and a group exercise, debate, role-playing scenario or guest speaker. The goal is to engage in a thoughtful analysis of the place of urbanization, and urban settlements more broadly, in the diverse and rapidly changing countries that constitute the Global South. We'll address both theoretical and applied aspects of urbanization and, as a result, is relevant for students hoping to pursue professional planning work as well as those intending to engage in research on urbanization and development topics. From a theoretical perspective, we will examine the debates that have framed the urban policy decisions taken by international organizations and national and local governments. At the same time, we will draw on case studies and examples from around the world to provide a grounded perspective on how these policies play out in real world contexts. The course ultimately seeks to provide students with a fluency surrounding the main issues and debates in urban planning and policy, and their relationship to development, and with the critical skills to approach related topics, whether in professional or academic contexts, in an informed and analytically rigorous manner. The course will begin with an introduction to the historical context for urban growth in the Global South. Early course sessions will examine, in particular, colonial policies towards urban settlements and urbanization and the ways in which post-independence governments have built upon and departed from these approaches to planning. The course will then address the key policy frameworks and theoretical paradigms through which the challenges facing contemporary urban settlements in the Global South are understood and addressed. Later sessions will focus on an in-depth analysis of the principal substantive challenges facing cities in the Global South, including rural-urban migration, service delivery, rapid growth of informal settlements, displacement and urban governance. The course makes a concerted point throughout of examining areas of overlap between experiences in the Global South and North, looking in particular at parallels between urban challenges in the South and issues facing communities in North America and Europe. |
| PLAN 548O Current Issues in Planning: Practical Legal Basics for Professional Planners Instructor: Pat Kendall Available during: Winter Session | This is a practical “how to” course - it does not address the substance of policies or decisions, but it teaches students how to lawfully implement and execute those policies and decisions. |
| PLAN 548P Current Issues in Planning: Reconciliation and Planning Instructor: Maggie Low Available during: Winter Session | What is the role of planning in reconciliation in what is now known as Canada? How do planners decolonize planning? What is Indigenous community planning? If you are interested in these questions, and have an open and curious mind, please join me in exploring the relationships between planning (as a discipline and profession) and reconciliation efforts happening in cities and communities across Canada. During our 12 weeks learning together, we will: spend time contextualizing ourselves within Indigenous and settler-colonial histories; critically examine what reconciliation means (and does not mean) and how it plays out in the ‘era of reconciliation’, 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. |
| PLAN 548Q Current Issues in Planning: Futures Planning Instructor: Sue-Jan Yeo Available during: Summer Session | In the process of planning with change and planning for change, planners indelibly play an active role in shaping the future. It is this relationship to the future that makes planning fundamentally transformative—where plans and policies can wield long-term effects on people and places (for better or worse). Yet, the notion of “futures” as a crucial dimension of planning is often understudied. This course will engage with the imaginative and visionary potential of planning. |
| PLAN 548S Current Issues in Planning: Infrastructure Planning and Smart Cities Instructor: Martino Tran Available during: Summer Session | Major drivers of change are influencing global cities including urbanization, climate change and disruptive technology. At the same time, large future investments in infrastructure are required to improve the sustainability and liveability of cities. This class will explore the major drivers of urban change, assess the latest advancements in understanding the societal and physical implications of urban infrastructure; and understand how that is being influenced by disruptive technology and the broader smart city movement. |
| PLAN 549C MCRP Master's Thesis Instructor: N/A Available during: Winter and Summer Sessions | Research and preparation of a thesis on a topic in public policy or professional practice. |
| PLAN 550A / PLAN 550B Directed Studies Course Instructor: N/A Available during: Winter and Summer Sessions | In special cases and with the approval of the Director of the school, a student may study an advanced topic under the direction of a faculty member. |
| PLAN 553 Indigenous Law, Governance, and Community Planning Instructor: Crystal Reeves Available during: Winter Session | This course 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. |
| PLAN 558 The Role of Theory in Planning Research Instructor: Heather Campbell Available during: Winter Session | The instructor will offer an overview of benchmarks in the evolution of planning theory, and its relationship with political movements and transitions in governance and policy values and models, as well as principal urban theory drawn from the fields of sociology, geography, anthropology, political science, and cultural studies |
| PLAN 559 Design of Planning- and Policy-Oriented Research Instructor: Mark Stevens Available during: Winter Session | The purposes of this course are to develop understanding and skill in the design of empirical research used in the analysis of policy and planning problems, as well as to develop the ability to critically evaluate policy-related research products. |
| PLAN 560 MCRP Thesis Workshop Instructor: Heather Campbell Available during: Winter Session | The format will be an interactive workshop. Course structure and content will include discussion on the scope of the master’s thesis in planning; the role of informing theory and relationship with the larger planning and urban studies discourses and debates; and a reading list drawn from planning, the humanities and social sciences, and urban/community policy studies. |
| PLAN 561 Seminar in Real Property Development and Planning Instructor: Jay Wollenberg Available during: Winter Session | This course provides an introduction to financial analysis and market analysis for urban development projects and applications in urban/regional planning, with an emphasis on quantitative analysis. |
| PLAN 583 Housing and Community Planning Policy Instructor: Michael Gordon | Homes and communities are a focus of public policy for local and senior governments. Overview of past and current policies addressing the design and development of homes and communities. The course includes seven walking tours, a ferry boat tour and a bus tour to observe first hand best practices in home and community design. Students prepare a "thought piece" on the meaning of home, house, housing and neighbourhood and in a group prepare a policy report and presentation. |
| PLAN 587A Urban Design Instructor: Erick Villagomez Available during: Winter Session | This course is designed to expose students to the fundamentals of urban design, such as issues and skills in physical planning, designing with hands-on graphic tools, verbal and graphic communication, as well as the development of conceptual tools to understand the built landscape. |
| PLAN 587B Urban Design Studio Instructor: TBD | Students will undertake diagramming and spatial decision-making to create visions, policy statements and designs for an urban neighbourhood. Students will employ urban design techniques including graphic presentation and public presentation. PLAN 517 and PLAN 587A or the instructor’s consent are prerequisites for this course. |
| PLAN 591 Land Use and Environmental Policy Instructor: Mark Stevens | |
| PLAN 595 Facilitation, Negotiation, and Conflict Resolution for Planning Instructor: Aftab Erfan Available during: Winter Session | This is an experiential course, focused on building the practical skills of planners as facilitators and negotiators. |
In the second year of the MCRP program, students are expected to complete the Capstone as the final requirement for their program. The major purpose of the Capstone is to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate the breadth of their planning education and synthesize their knowledge of planning. The Capstone serves as a culmination of the MCRP degree program, allowing students to articulate and demonstrate the competency they have developed in their chosen focus area, through synthesis and/or application of the knowledge, skills, and capabilities they have gained in the program. It is expected that students will be able to use the Capstone output to demonstrate their professional competency to potential employers.
Please note that the Capstone Project, through the course PLAN 528A, fulfills the Synthesis and Application of Knowledge to Practice skills component as established and required for program accreditation by the Canadian planning accreditation body, the Professional Standards Board (PSB).
Format
The Capstone can take a range of forms, as this flexibility allows students to define a Capstone that will best meet their individual educational objectives. Options include:
1. Professional Research Report
The product of the Capstone may be a professional report in which the student investigates a well-defined, practical planning-related question or problem. In this case, the student demonstrates competency by defining an applied problem in his/her chosen focus area and conducting appropriate research to address it. Further details are provided below. Reports should not exceed 30 pages (at 1.5 spacing) in length including executive summary, tables, figures, and references. This is roughly equivalent to a word-count limit of 7,000 words. Appendices may be added and are not counted in this page limit.
2. Professional Portfolio
The product of the Capstone course may be a portfolio of work produced during the MCRP degree program (e.g., from courses, internship, and/or studio) accompanied by a synthesis report. In this option, the student demonstrates competency through articulating a chosen focus area, reflecting on his/her explorations in the context of the pieces of work, and synthesizing various strands of thought into a cohesive, integrated approach to planning. The portfolio should include information to contextualize each piece of work, such as goals, outputs, and the specific role of the student in the case of team projects. The synthesis report should integrate knowledge developed in several learning environments at SCARP. The synthesis report should be approximately 5 to 10 pages in length (at 1.5 spacing), not exceeding 3,000 words.
Examples of the professional research report option include:
- An internship extension report – A written report that builds on the student's internship experience. This could involve, for example, analyzing data that had been collected during the internship.
- A studio extension report – A written report that builds on the student's studio experience. This could involve addressing a problem that is related to but outside the scope of the client-defined studio project.
- An independent research report – A professional report that involves independent research outside the scope of courses, internship, or studio. The report may be undertaken for a real or hypothetical client. In some cases, it may be appropriate to conduct time-intensive activities that exceed the expectations of the 3-credit Capstone course; for example, a student may need to conduct a thorough literature review in an area where courses were not available. In these cases, a student may choose to take a Directed Study course (PLAN 550, 3 credits) in conjunction with the Capstone, particularly if this helps with meeting the 48-credit MCRP requirement.
3. Alternative form
With the approval of the Faculty Advisor, a student may complete the Capstone in an alternative form, such as a film, other multi-media product, or website. The Capstone product must be commensurate with the portfolio or research report options in terms of general content and depth of exploration, and must be accompanied by a paper of approximately 5 to 10 pages in length (at 1.5 spacing), not exceeding 3,000 words.
Course Credit
MCRP students will receive 3 credits for completing the Capstone Project via the registration in PLAN 528A. Please note that PLAN 528A is a MCRP Program Requirement and students must be registered in the course to complete their MCRP program (Exception: MCRP students in the Indigenous Community Planning (ICP) concentration). Information on the course, PLAN 528A may be found in the Course Outline.
Students are not permitted to register for PLAN 528A. Instead, this is initiated by the Graduate Administrator, who registers the student upon receiving the Capstone Selection form and Outline, approved and signed by the student’s Faculty Advisor. Registration in PLAN 528A continues until completion of the Capstone.
Supervision
Even though the student’s Capstone Project is considered an independent research project, their Capstone Project is supervised by their assigned Faculty Advisor. Faculty Advisors advise students regarding all phases of the Capstone, including which Capstone option to pursue:
- For the Capstone Project option, the Faculty Advisor advises on topic selection, project design, data collection and analysis, and finalizing the report.
- For the Capstone Portfolio option, the Faculty Advisor advises on the selection, representation and synthesis of course outputs and the development of the portfolio narrative.
Students are expected to meet with their Faculty Advisor in their second year to discuss their Capstone topic and format. This procedure is formalized by completing a Capstone Selection form. The Faculty Advisor must indicate their agreement to oversee the Capstone by signing the student's Capstone form. The form and outline (as appropriate; one page is adequate) must be submitted to the Graduate Administrator to initiate registration in the Capstone course, PLAN 528A.
Students submit a final copy of their Capstone to their Faculty Advisor by the set deadline and a grade is communicated to the Graduate Administrator for the student’s academic record.
Completed Capstone Projects:
Capstone professional reports completed by our graduated MCRP students who received a final grade within the A to A+ range may be found in UBC's digital repository, cIRcle.
Due to confidentiality reasons, Capstone professional reports completed by our graduated MCRP students in the Indigenous Community Planning concentration are not publicly available.
Capstone professional portfolios completed by our graduated MCRP students who received a final grade within the A to A+ range may be found here.
Review of Relevant Links:
Program Structure
- 42 credits in required courses, tailored to the evolving demands of the planning profession
- 18 credits of elective courses you select based on interests and professional aspirations
- A second-year 2-term studio course that integrates theories and methods covered throughout the curriculum into a single team-based project, with a real client or community group
- Internship experience and mentorship opportunities with local planning practitioners
| Code | Credits | Description | Required for MCRP? | Required for MCRP-ICP? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAN 500 | 3 | Comparative Perspectives on Planning History and Futures | X | X |
| PLAN 501 | 3 | Reconciliation and Planning | X | |
| PLAN 502 | 3 | Sustainability and Resilience in Planning | X | X |
| PLAN 504 | 3 | Urban Design and Visual Representation | X | X |
| PLAN 505 | 3 | Planning Theory, Values, and Ethics | X | X |
| PLAN 506 | 3 | Information and Analysis in Planning | X | X |
| PLAN 507 | 3 | Engagement and Facilitation for Planners | X | X |
| PLAN 511 | 3 | The Legal and Institutional Context of Planning | X | X |
| PLAN 512 | 3 | Urban Economics, Infrastructure, and Real Estate Issues in Planning | X | |
| PLAN 513 | 3 | Making and Implementing Community and Regional Plans | X | |
| PLAN 514 | 3 | Indigenous Planning: Ways of Being, Knowing, and Doing | X | |
| PLAN 515 | 3 | Indigenous Law, Governance, and Community Planning | X | |
| PLAN 516 | 3 | Planning for Community Economic Development | X | |
| PLAN 540 | 6 | Planning Praxis | X | |
| PLAN 541 | 6 | Planning Studio | X | |
| PLAN 543 | 12 | Indigenous Community Planning Practicum | X | |
| TOTAL CREDITS (not including elective requirements): | 42 | 42 | ||
| ELECTIVE COURSES (no more than 6 credits may be at the undergraduate level, i.e., 300/400): | 18 | 18 | ||
| TOTAL CREDITS: | 60 | 60 | ||
Electives can be courses within SCARP or in other departments that relate to the student’s interests. No more than 6 credits of undergraduate-level (300-400) courses will count towards your MCRP program
Some recommended electives outside of SCARP
Please note:
- Some courses will need to contact the course instructor and/or department offering the course for permission to be registered
- Course offering and availability are subject to change by the School offering the course.
Offered Where | Code | Course Name | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| At other UBC depts | ANTH 540A | Advanced Seminar - Sacred Geography | |
| APBI 361 | Key Indicators of Agroecosystem Sustainability | ||
| BAPA 580 | Topics in Policy Analysis | ||
| BAUL 500 | Real Estate Markets | ||
| CIVL 598P | Pedestrian and Bicycle Facility Design | ||
| COM 486X | Urban Resilience | ||
| CONS 528 | Social Science Research Methods and Design for Natural Resource Management | 3 | |
| FISH 506F | Traditional Ecological Knowledge in the Fisheries Management - Current Topics in Fisheries | ||
| FISH 506G | Economic Foundations oof Environmental Policies | ||
| FNIS 501A | Indigenous Theory and Method(ologies) | 3 | |
| FRST 522 | Social, Community, and Indigenous Forestry | 4 | |
| FRST 551 | Landscape Planning for Sustainability | ||
| GEOG 535 | International Migration and Settlement | ||
| GEOG 560A | Economic Geography | ||
| GPP 507 | Environmental Law and Policy Frameworks | 3 | |
| GPP 541 | Policy Dimensions of Energy Systems | ||
| GPP 543 | Sustainable Water Systems | ||
| GPP 544 | Economic Foundations of Environmental Policies | 3 | |
| GPP 581 | Behavioural Foundations for Public Policy | ||
| GPP 582 | Public Engagement in Policy Decisions | ||
| GPP 584 | Policy Responses to Global Climate Change | ||
| GPP 591A | Designed Leadership for Change | 3 | |
| GPP 591C | Lind Initiative Seminar | 3 | |
| GPP 591D | Special Topics in Public Policy | 3 | |
| GPP 591N | Power and Practice | 3 | |
| GRSJ 415 | Critical Racial and Anti-Colonial Feminist Approaches | ||
| GRSJ 511 | Difficult Knowledge: Ethics and Pracis of Research in Challenging Settings | ||
| LARC 553 | Green Network Planning | ||
| LARC 582 | AutoCAD Workflow for Landscape Architecture Construction | ||
| RES 520 | Climate Change: Science, Technology, and Sustainable Development | ||
| SOCI 423 | Sociology of Food | ||
| SOCI 425 | Urban Sociology | ||
| SOCI 540 | Social Inequality | ||
| SOIL 516 | Urban Watershed Management | ||
| SOIL 518 | Water in International Development | ||
| SOWK 44C /529A 001 | Communities, Social Development, and Community Organizing | 3 | |
| SPPH 552 | Risk and Communication in Public Health | ||
| UDES 505 | Urban Design as Public Policy: Policymaking for a Sustainable Region | ||
| UFOR 495 | Biodiversity in Urban Areas | ||
| URSY 510 | Urban Systems and Society | ||
| URSY 520 | Urban Systems Planning and Analysis | ||
| URSY 550 | Infrastructure Asset Management | ||
| Courses can be taken at other universities through the Western Deans' agreement. | |||
| SFU | REM 606 | Indigenous People and Co-Management | |
| REM 607 | Indigenous Governance and Resource Relationships | ||
| Year 1 Term 1 | Year 1 Term 2 | Year 1 Summer | Year 2 Term 1 | Year 2 Term 2 | Year 2 Summer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAN 500 | PLAN 505 | PLAN 512 | |||
| PLAN 501 | PLAN 506 | PLAN 513 | |||
| PLAN 502 | PLAN 507 | ||||
| PLAN 504 | PLAN 511 | ------------------PLAN 541------------------ | |||
| ----------------------------------------------------PLAN 540---------------------------------------------------- | |||||
| Elective(s) | Elective(s) | Elective(s) | Elective(s) | Elective(s) | Elective(s) |
| Year 1 Term 1 | Year 1 Term 2 | Year 1 Summer | Year 2 Term 1 | Year 2 Term 2 | Year 2 Summer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAN 500 | PLAN 504 | PLAN 516 | PLAN 511 | Elective(s) | |
| PLAN 502 | PLAN 505 | ------------------PLAN 543------------------ | |||
| PLAN 504 | PLAN 506 | ||||
| PLAN 515: Indigenous Planning | PLAN 515: Indigenous Law | ||||
| Elective(s) | Elective(s) | Elective(s) | Elective(s) | Elective(s) | Elective(s) |
For more information regarding course dates and times, please visit the UBC Course Schedule.
| PLAN 500 Comparative Perspectives on Planning History and Futures Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | This course undertakes a detailed, comparative examination of the history, present and future of planning in a global context. It examines planning in diverse settings and highlights how planning has been, is, and might be conceived and practiced. |
| PLAN 501 Reconciliation and Planning Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | History of colonization in Canada and other parts of the world, including impacts on Indigenous peoples. Distinguishing features of Indigenous planning practice and traditions. How planners can contribute to social justice, decolonization, and reconciliation between settlers and Indigenous peoples. |
| PLAN 502 Sustainability and Resilience in Planning Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | 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. |
| PLAN 504 Urban Design and Visual Representation Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | Neighborhood and site-level urban design. The role and power of visual representation. The use of information technologies for mapping, visual representation, and engagement. |
| PLAN 505 Planning Theory, Values, and Ethics Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | Major theoretical debates in planning and their influence on practice. Values in planning and their role in decision-making. Planning’s role in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusivity. The nature of ethical issues in planning and professional practice. |
| PLAN 506 Information and Analysis in Planning Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | Gathering and analyzing information from a variety of sources to support planning and decision-making. Presenting information to a range of audiences, in a way that is meaningful and helps to support decision-making. |
| PLAN 507 Engagement, Facilitation, and Conflict Resolution for Planners Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | Inclusive consultation and engagement with stakeholders and the public in decision-making. Facilitating meetings that foster equitable participation and mutually-agreeable outcomes. |
| PLAN 511 The Legal and Institutional Context of Planning Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | 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. |
| PLAN 512 Urban Economics, Infrastructure, and Real Estate Issues in Planning Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | 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. |
| PLAN 513 Making and Implementing Community and Regional Plans Instructor: Available during: Winter Session | 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. |
| PLAN 514 Indigenous Planning: Ways of Being, Knowing, and Doing Instructor: Available during: | 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. |
| PLAN 515 Indigenous Law, Governance, and Community Planning Instructor: Available during: | The laws within which Indigenous Peoples in Canada (particularly in British Columbia), live, and which impact their communities and Nations. How law and governance inform planning with Indigenous communities. |
| PLAN 516 Planning for Community Economic Development Instructor: Available during: | 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. |
| PLAN 517 Theory and Methods of Urban Design Instructor: Erick Villagomez Available during: Winter Session | This course focuses on the fundamentals of urban design theory and methods, and its application to neighbourhood design. This is a required course for Urban Design students and a foundation for anyone interested in gaining basic urban design literacy. It meets the distributional requirement for the Urban Design and Transportation area within SCARP’s Masters level degree program. PLAN 517 is an entry point into the urban design field, from which students can build deeper understanding, with additional coursework and focused research. |
PLAN 530 | This course will provide an introduction to affordable housing policy and planning. The history of Canadian housing policy and programs will be examined followed by current issues and challenges faced by municipalities, regional governments, non-profit housing providers, and others. The causes and responses to homelessness will also be addressed, as well as the evolution of social or non-market housing in Canada and elsewhere. Students will undertake a major research project in partnership with a local organization. |
| PLAN 531 Planning for Disaster-Resilient Communities Instructor: Stephanie Chang Available during: Winter Session | This course will study natural disasters from the perspective of risk analysis, risk reduction, and planning for disaster-resilient communities. The focus is primarily on Canada and the U.S. but includes disaster risk globally. |
| PLAN 532 Strategic Planning: Developing and Implementing Policy Plans Instructor: Ann McAfee Available during: Winter Session | The first half of the course introduces the theory and practice of developing and implementing strategic/policy plans using examples from metropolitan, city, and neighbourhood plans. A range of topics including land use, transportation, environment, economic, social, and financial directions are combined into integrated plans for sustainable futures. The course considers the challenges and opportunities of engaging broad public participation in plan preparation and implementation. The second half of the course explores techniques for writing and managing plans both at the city and regional-metropolitan levels. Classes will introduce example plan making under various governance systems including the challenge of integrating new issues such as resilience into established plans. |
| PLAN 533 Indigenous Planning: Ways of Being, Knowing, and Doing Instructor: Leonie Sandercock Available during: Winter Session | The intent of the course is to empower emerging planners by introducing substantive knowledge of contemporary Indigenous community planning, built on a foundational understanding of the political, social and cultural protocols and values, history, philosophy, social structure, traditional knowledge, and ecology of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples. |
| PLAN 534 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems Instructor: Bill Gushue Available during: Winter Session | This course introduces students to the theory, history and capabilities behind GIS, with customized laboratory exercises that incorporate urban design and planning themes. |
| PLAN 535 Transportation Planning and Analysis Instructor: Alex Bigazzi Available during: Winter Session | This course covers fundamental urban travel demand modelling techniques and aims to help students understand how travel models are used in the planning process. |
| PLAN 540 Planning Praxis Instructor: Available during: Year-Long | Learn about professional planning practice and appropriate professional conduct directly from practice internship experience. Develop understanding of the processes of social change and action in relation to real world administrative and institutional settings. |
| PLAN 541 Planning Studio Instructor: Available during: Winter Session (2-term) | Collaborate with classmates and community, municipal, and private sector organizations in a mini-consultancy capacity to complete a real-world planning project for a real-world clients or project partners. |
| PLAN 542 Practical Practice: City Planning as a Craft Instructor: Larry Beasley Available during: Winter Session | This course will explore the approach, roles, styles, and essential skills of planners in the normal situations of practical urban planning. Typical planning formats will be surveyed: area planning; policy planning; development management. Regulatory tools, development economics, practical urban design, and applied sustainability will be emphasized. |
| PLAN 543 ICP Practicum Instructor: Available during: Winter Session (2-term) | The ICP Practicum consists of (1) the Studio, which provides students an opportunity to experience service directly with an Indigenous community/agency, and (2) the Capstone, which allows students to articulate and demonstrate their competency developed in Indigenous community planning. |
| PLAN 548E Current Issues in Planning: LED Theory, Issues and Applications Instructor: Will Trousdale Available during: Summer Session | Local Economic Development (LED) is centered on local resources, capacity and leadership to build sustainable communities, towns and cities. The course will introduce students to the principles, approaches and tools to LED through lessons and case studies drawn from Canadian and developing countries context. Include prerequisites. |
| PLAN 548G Current Issues in Planning: Critical Spatial Thinking for Urban Planning Instructor: James Connolly Available during: Summer Session | This course prepares urban planning students to be critical spatial thinkers. Students develop skills in geographic information systems as a tool for solving planning problems while critically engaging with the contextual dynamics that impact spatial data and analysis. |
| PLAN 548H Current Issues in Planning: Short Film Production NOT CURRENTLY OFFERED | Introduction to the basic approaches, theories, and production methods used in creating short documentary and motion graphic films for community advocacy and educational purposes. Indigenous and decolonial approaches to filmmaking will be emphasized. Jessica Hallenbeck, Lyana Patrick, and Dave Shortt will mentor students in the creation of short films. |
| PLAN 548L Current Issues in Planning: Urban Transportation Systems Instructor: Alex Bigazzi Available during: Winter Session | This course provides an overview of multi-modal urban transportation systems, including key characteristics, interactions, and analytical techniques. There are no prerequisites for the course, but some quantitative analysis is required and students should be comfortable working with spreadsheet software. |
| PLAN 548M Current Issues in Planning: Urban Planning and Policy in the Global South Instructor: Michael Hooper Available during: Winter Session | This course undertakes a detailed examination of urban planning and policy in the Global South. It adopts a seminar format, with most class sessions involving a discussion of readings and a group exercise, debate, role-playing scenario or guest speaker. The goal is to engage in a thoughtful analysis of the place of urbanization, and urban settlements more broadly, in the diverse and rapidly changing countries that constitute the Global South. We'll address both theoretical and applied aspects of urbanization and, as a result, is relevant for students hoping to pursue professional planning work as well as those intending to engage in research on urbanization and development topics. From a theoretical perspective, we will examine the debates that have framed the urban policy decisions taken by international organizations and national and local governments. At the same time, we will draw on case studies and examples from around the world to provide a grounded perspective on how these policies play out in real world contexts. The course ultimately seeks to provide students with a fluency surrounding the main issues and debates in urban planning and policy, and their relationship to development, and with the critical skills to approach related topics, whether in professional or academic contexts, in an informed and analytically rigorous manner. The course will begin with an introduction to the historical context for urban growth in the Global South. Early course sessions will examine, in particular, colonial policies towards urban settlements and urbanization and the ways in which post-independence governments have built upon and departed from these approaches to planning. The course will then address the key policy frameworks and theoretical paradigms through which the challenges facing contemporary urban settlements in the Global South are understood and addressed. Later sessions will focus on an in-depth analysis of the principal substantive challenges facing cities in the Global South, including rural-urban migration, service delivery, rapid growth of informal settlements, displacement and urban governance. The course makes a concerted point throughout of examining areas of overlap between experiences in the Global South and North, looking in particular at parallels between urban challenges in the South and issues facing communities in North America and Europe. |
| PLAN 548O Current Issues in Planning: Practical Legal Basics for Professional Planners Instructor: Pat Kendall Available during: Winter Session | This is a practical “how to” course - it does not address the substance of policies or decisions, but it teaches students how to lawfully implement and execute those policies and decisions. |
| PLAN 548Q Current Issues in Planning: Futures Planning Instructor: Sue-Jan Yeo Available during: Summer Session | In the process of planning with change and planning for change, planners indelibly play an active role in shaping the future. It is this relationship to the future that makes planning fundamentally transformative—where plans and policies can wield long-term effects on people and places (for better or worse). Yet, the notion of “futures” as a crucial dimension of planning is often understudied. This course will engage with the imaginative and visionary potential of planning. |
| PLAN 548S Current Issues in Planning: Infrastructure Planning and Smart Cities Instructor: Martino Tran Available during: Summer Session | Major drivers of change are influencing global cities including urbanization, climate change and disruptive technology. At the same time, large future investments in infrastructure are required to improve the sustainability and liveability of cities. This class will explore the major drivers of urban change, assess the latest advancements in understanding the societal and physical implications of urban infrastructure; and understand how that is being influenced by disruptive technology and the broader smart city movement. |
| PLAN 549C MCRP Master's Thesis Instructor: N/A Available during: Winter and Summer Sessions | Research and preparation of a thesis on a topic in public policy or professional practice. |
| PLAN 550A / PLAN 550B Directed Studies Course Instructor: N/A Available during: Winter and Summer Sessions | In special cases and with the approval of the Director of the school, a student may study an advanced topic under the direction of a faculty member. |
| PLAN 558 The Role of Theory in Planning Research Instructor: Heather Campbell Available during: Winter Session | The instructor will offer an overview of benchmarks in the evolution of planning theory, and its relationship with political movements and transitions in governance and policy values and models, as well as principal urban theory drawn from the fields of sociology, geography, anthropology, political science, and cultural studies |
| PLAN 559 Design of Planning- and Policy-Oriented Research Instructor: Mark Stevens Available during: Winter Session | The purposes of this course are to develop understanding and skill in the design of empirical research used in the analysis of policy and planning problems, as well as to develop the ability to critically evaluate policy-related research products. |
| PLAN 560 MCRP Thesis Workshop Instructor: Heather Campbell Available during: Winter Session | The format will be an interactive workshop. Course structure and content will include discussion on the scope of the master’s thesis in planning; the role of informing theory and relationship with the larger planning and urban studies discourses and debates; and a reading list drawn from planning, the humanities and social sciences, and urban/community policy studies. |
| PLAN 565 Seminar in Real Property Development and Planning Instructor: Jay Wollenberg Available during: Winter Session | This course provides an introduction to financial analysis and market analysis for urban development projects and applications in urban/regional planning, with an emphasis on quantitative analysis. |
| PLAN 583 Housing and Community Planning Policy Instructor: Michael Gordon | Homes and communities are a focus of public policy for local and senior governments. Overview of past and current policies addressing the design and development of homes and communities. The course includes seven walking tours, a ferry boat tour and a bus tour to observe first hand best practices in home and community design. Students prepare a "thought piece" on the meaning of home, house, housing and neighbourhood and in a group prepare a policy report and presentation. |
| PLAN 587A Urban Design Instructor: Erick Villagomez Available during: Winter Session | This course is designed to expose students to the fundamentals of urban design, such as issues and skills in physical planning, designing with hands-on graphic tools, verbal and graphic communication, as well as the development of conceptual tools to understand the built landscape. |
| PLAN 587B Urban Design Studio Instructor: TBD | Students will undertake diagramming and spatial decision-making to create visions, policy statements and designs for an urban neighbourhood. Students will employ urban design techniques including graphic presentation and public presentation. PLAN 517 and PLAN 587A or the instructor’s consent are prerequisites for this course. |
| PLAN 591 Land Use and Environmental Policy Instructor: Mark Stevens | |
| PLAN 597 Planning for Water Resources Management NOT CURRENTLY OFFERED | The relationships among relevant bio-physical, socio-economic and institutional systems as applied to regional planning for watersheds, lakes, estuaries, coastal zones and international river basins. Water supply, waste disposal, fisheries, aquaculture, recreation, hydropower and flood control. |
MCRP students are assessed a Program Fee for full-time studies according to the Specialized Master’s Degree Programs schedule as noted in the UBC Calendar.
The Program Fee shown below is calculated for a full academic year (Winter and Summer Sessions; September through August).
| Program Session | Domestic Fee (Per Installment/Term) | International Fee (Per Installment/Term) |
| 2020 Summer or 2020 Winter | $3,522.44 | $7,307.24 |
| 2019 Summer or 2019 Winter | $3,453.38 | $7,236.98 |
| 2018 Summer or 2018 Winter | $3,385.67 | $7,167.39 |
MCRP students are required to pay a total of 6 installments of the Program Fee (6 terms over 24 months) regardless of whether or not they complete their program earlier. Students are assessed the Program Fee three times a year, payable in September, January and May through the UBC Student Service Centre.
In addition to the Program Fee, all UBC students are assessed Student Fees to help cover the costs of resources available to students. Information about student fees of particular importance to graduate students is available here.
Students funding their studies with awards or loans are strongly advised to be aware of the conditions for maintaining their award or loan eligibility as these relate to student status. It is the student’s responsibility to make necessary academic and financial plans. For more information about this, students may contact their assigned Enrolment Services Advisor.
The UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies provides information about the cost of living in Vancouver for prospective students.