Partnerships

SCARP’s Planning Studio is an intensive 7-month professionally-oriented course in which students partner with community, municipal and private sector organizations to identify problems and propose possible solutions.  

The Planning Studio is a very valuable part of the SCARP professional identity and a source of pride for SCARP.  

Students work in teams of three with complementary skills and abilities.  

Three faculty instructors, and a team of faculty advisors with diverse planning knowledge and expertise, support the students through all stages of project definition, analysis, revision and delivery. The best projects benefit from the active engagement of project partners.  

Each year SCARP engages four or five local, regional or international organizations to undertake collaboratively conceived studio projects. Under defined parameters with agreed-upon representatives, this partnership delivers a student-produced project for the benefit of multiple communities or organizations. The best partnerships are multi-year partnerships with longitudinal gains and committed project champions within the partner organizations. 

SCARP's Planning Studio, its projects, and how to get involved

Our existing Studio project partners

“SCARP has and continues to produce excellent professional planners who populate planning-related and administrative and elected offices throughout Canada and internationally.” 
-Municipal employer of SCARP graduates 

SCARP’s intensive programs and real-world work prepare our students for professional excellence and planning in partnership. SCARP’s students represent diverse backgrounds, diverse educations, and diverse professional aspirations and expertise. Having a SCARP-trained professional planner is an excellent way to tackle projects and challenges.  

Do you need an entry-level professional in the planning world, or know of a great opportunity for the next generation of planners?  

• Hire a student intern for your organization or project! 
• Advise us of job openings and we’ll add it to our students’ and alumni’s career opportunities list by contacting communications@scarp.ubc.ca  

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 has become a concentration of SCARP’s Master of Community and Regional Planning program, and is the first such program in the world.  

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 partnership with Musqueam Indian Band, SCARP co-designed and co-delivers the Masters of Community and Regional Planning program’s Indigenous Community Planning concentration. ICP trains a new generation of planners to break with the colonial legacy and culture of planning, to work in respectful partnership with Indigenous communities, centered on their priorities. 

This partnership and cultural immersion approach is unique among planning programs in North America, and represents a thriving and invaluable partnership. 

SCARP’s Master of Community and Regional Planning program is proudly the only masters degree in planning accredited both in both Canada and the United States of America. It is also accredited by two separate accreditation boards, each with their own high standards. 

More information about our accreditations

We benefit from a strong relationship with the Planning Institute of British Columbia and the Canadian Institute of Planners. This affiliation includes reciprocal institutional development, faculty membership, and student mentorship and professional resources.

Members of the SCARP community benefit from interdisciplinary collaborations with faculty, research associates, and students from a number of centres and institutes across the UBC campus. Our affiliations range from cross appointments for faculty to partnership on major grants to interdisciplinary research supervision and teaching:

Centre/institute:	Member:
Centre for Climate Justice
Department of Civil Engineering
Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice
Institute for Resources Environment and Sustainability
Institute of Asian Research