Masters in City and Regional Planning in USA

The nationally-ranked Master of Science in Architecture in Real Estate Development (MSArch RED) program seeks to build upon the unique perspective and ethos of the architect. Through small class sizes and individual attention, we foster close mentoring relationships between faculty, staff, and students. While architects design the way a building looks and works, they are seldom involved in the decision of exactly what to build.

Students who have earned a degree in architecture qualify to apply to our RED program. Students who have completed degrees in related fields will be considered on a case-by-case basis .

The PAB-accredited Master of City and Regional Planning degree program prepares students for careers as professional planners with public, private, and nonprofit organizations. Research techniques and skills are applied to real-world planning challenges regarding sprawl, pollution, carbon footprints, economic development, aging infrastructure, and equity.

The Graduate Affordable Housing Advanced Certificate is designed for individuals with an earned bachelor's degree and interested in gaining further knowledge about issues facing affordable housing in the United States. In the U. S., the pervasiveness of affordability problems among lower-income renters is primarily due to the shortage of appropriately priced housing and the low and decreasing incomes of renters. 

Through an experiential learning-based curriculum delivered by industry executives, you will build a modern skill set, specifically emerging with the ability to develop, finance, and invest in commercial real estate projects. A typical course includes case studies, applied projects, and guest speakers with extensive industry experience. Plus, you’ll earn ARGUS Enterprise certification as well as CCIM - University Fast Track designation.

The Master of Science in Real Estate Development is designed to provide real estate professionals with the knowledge essential to assume increasingly responsible leadership roles within the development industry. Areas of emphasis include real estate finance, investment analysis, project management, sustainability and economic development. The distinctiveness of this degree program lies in its multi-disciplinary curriculum, which incorporates coursework from the domains of business, engineering and public policy. Created in consultation with leading real estate development companies, the curriculum has been designed to strengthen the employment potential and upward mobility of industry professionals working in the areas of development, architecture, engineering, public planning, construction management, real estate finance, mortgage lending, property management, real estate law and related fields.

The Edward St. John Real Estate Program offers a Master of Science in Real Estate and Infrastructure (MSREI) degree program that provides students with a comprehensive understanding of real estate finance, investment, development, management, and capital markets.

The full-time MSREI program is guided by a faculty composed of Johns Hopkins professors and of Real Estate practitioners from the region’s leading investment, development, planning, law, and architectural firms. A supportive network of alumni and business professionals is available to students throughout their 12-month course of study.

Clemson's MCRP program is the only graduate planning program in South Carolina and it plays a vital role in the development of the planning profession in the state and region. The MCRP Program has been an accredited program since 1972, and received its most recent accreditation in 2019 for five years from the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB). Students enrich their classroom experience by collaborating with community and public service partners on real-world projects as part of an applied, practitioner-oriented environment.

A total of 48 credit hours are required for the MCRP degree. The two-year program contains a 29-credit core curriculum. The program also calls for 9-12 credits of elective courses in addition to 7-credits for a terminal project or 10-credits for a thesis. The core curriculum includes planning and substantive theory, analytical methods, implementation techniques and applications. Electives allow the student to develop further expertise. Upon the completion of coursework, an oral examination is required to present and defend the results of their terminal project or thesis.

The Master of Real Estate Development + Urbanism (MRED+U) and Master of Urban Design are a 60 credit minimum program.

The interdisciplinary graduate program that combines coursework in real estate development, finance, market analysis, construction, architecture, urban design, law and entrepreneurship. The program draws on the strengths of the University of Miami's Schools of Architecture, Business, Engineering, and Law to create a world-class program that blends the fundamentals of real estate development with livable community design. Students are immersed in one of the world's most dynamic real estate markets through a rigorous curriculum enriched by a wide range of study tours, speaker series, the annual Real Estate Impact Conference, research initiatives and networking events. The prestigious MRED+U Advisory Board connects students with over 50 industry leaders who are directly engaged in the program as lecturers, mentors and advisors, providing internship and employment opportunities and access to dozens of cutting-edge projects from every real estate sector.

The Master in Urban Design provides students with a design experience investigating the guiding principles for building regions, cities and communities. The degree is STEM-designated which allows international students to apply for OPT for up to 36 months after graduation.

Guided by imperatives of sustainability and resilience, the program conceptualizes cities as an extension of the ecological transect across the natural to human habitat, providing students with a range of experiences from rural to urban.

Program Director Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, recognized for her foundational role in the development of the movement called the New Urbanism, leads the program that invites students to explore design, policy and management tools for place-making as a vehicle for improving quality of life in a variety of urban settings. The impact of the built environment on health, retrofitting the suburban landscape, real estate development as community building, adaptation to climate change, and urban growth and revitalization, are topics prominent in course offerings and faculty research.

The three-semester curriculum begins in the fall each year with foundation courses in urban design and real estate development, in an Interdisciplinary approach structured by environmental, social and economic goals. The spring semester intensifies students' engagement with contemporary urban challenges such as climate resilience, healthy community design, and repair of suburban sprawl. The summer semester provides a concluding experience that aggregates prior topics in an international setting that challenges goals of sustainability and resource conservation. As part of the curriculum, students participate in the National Charrette Institute certification course, a training in public outreach and participatory planning, and collaborate with real estate development students in two special projects: a national design and development competition, and a local community revitalization plan. These experiences and the course work shared with the Master of Real Estate Development and Urbanism program provide a focus on implementation. The optional fourth semester of the Master of Urban Design program is a semester-long independent study design project or thesis. In recent years these have focused on topics such as greening a Brazilian City, socially integrated public housing in China, and an analysis of principles and metrics of Smart Cities and New Urbanism.

Other resources that enrich the urban design student's experience in the School include the Center for Community and Urban Design (CUCD), engaging students in community outreach projects in South Florida and The Caribbean, and the Archive of the New Urbanism, housed in the School of Architecture Library. The Archive is a growing resource of documents, with both texts and images that support research related to urban design. Also, Research Affiliates from around the world join the faculty annually to study the state-of-the-art in urban design and architecture.

Guiding the ever evolving program are faculty members Charles Bohl, Jaime Correa, Eric Firley, Jean Francois Lejeune, Victor Deupi and Joanna Lombard, internationally recognized in research, publication and design.

While the Master of Urban Design is a post-professional program, structured for students with a professional degree in architecture, those holding a degree in engineering, planning or landscape architecture may apply for admission. A preparatory summer course may be required for non-architects, to be determined by the admission process.

The program prepares students for careers in city and regional planning and related fields involving cities and urban development. According to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP), planning is a systematic, creative way to influence the future of neighborhoods, cities, rural and metropolitan areas, and at larger scales, the country and world. City planners use their professional skills to serve communities facing social, economic, environmental, and cultural challenges by helping residents: 1) preserve and enhance their quality-of-life 2) find methods to protect the natural and built environment; 3) identify policies to promote equity and equality; 4) structure programs to improve services to disadvantaged communities, and; 5) determine methods to deal effectively with growth and development. The Program’s mission is to educate diverse and underrepresented student groups in the planning profession and related fields for careers in public, private, and non-profit sectors, conduct advanced research in city planning and related urban disciplines, and develop leaders in the field. Building on the tradition of providing professional education for African American students at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU), and the University’s urban mission, the faculty and students are committed to improving urban communities in the Baltimore region, in Maryland, and across the mid-Atlantic, including metropolitan Washington, D.C. Locally, the program serves as a partner for the University’s Morgan Community Mile initiative, which aims to improve the quality of life for neighborhoods in Northeast Baltimore. We also use the greater Baltimore and Washington regions as a laboratory for applied research and student projects.

Our mission is to prepare students to be leaders in the real estate profession and to address the significant built environment challenges of the 21st century: sustainability, gentrification, poverty, the decline of brick and mortar retail and the shifts in demographics. Students will learn to address economic, social, and ecological issues when developing commercial, industrial, institutional, mixed use and residential real estate development projects. Philadelphia provides examples and case studies for much of the curriculum, but national and international examples are also investigated.

By focusing on the quadruple bottom line of real estate development and combining environmental sustainability, social consciousness, design excellence, financial feasibility and economic viability, students gain first-hand experience how real estate development invigorates communities and shapes healthy places to live, work, and play. Using the greater Philadelphia area, as a living laboratory, students learn to approach projects at various scales, ranging from single buildings to entire districts or neighborhoods.

Students have the option of taking classes in person at our East Falls Campus in Philadelphia, or take part in an online, low residency cohort. This cohort meets in person once a semester with other MSRED students and faculty in Philadelphia or another city in the region, while fulfilling all other requirements in a live online learning environment. Students in both programs have the opportunity to network with industry professionals, tour real project sites and neighborhoods, and learn from guest speakers through lectures, conferences and seminars. Learn more about the online option and residency in our FAQs.

The MSRE graduate degree program is designed for those seeking further knowledge and skills in the real estate industry.  It is a specialized degree tailored to provide students with knowledge that will prepare them for industry advancement success and leadership.

The Master of Science in Facilities Planning is designed for those with an academic background in facilities management at the undergraduate level or those with experience through practice who want to pursue an advanced degree that focuses on further specialization in their profession. The M.S. in Facilities Planning utilizes a workshop- and seminar-based curriculum. Group work that is part of the degree program takes place in the Facilities Management Lab in Tyler’s Architecture Building, a shared group work environment for all facilities management students.