[what is urban planning?

]
Urban planning is a profession with the primary purpose of creating a GREAT PLACE. Planners value, preserve and create spaces that are important to who we are as individuals and as a community. Urban and regional planners use their professional skills to serve communities facing social, economic, environmental, and cultural challenges by helping community residents to: DEVELOP WAYS TO PRESERVE & ENHANCE QUALITY OF LIFE. FIND METHODS TO PROTECT THE NATURAL AND BUILD ENVIRONMENT. IDENTIFY POLICIES TO PROMOTE EQUITY AND EQUALITY. STRUCTURE PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE SERVICES TO DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES. DETERMINE METHODS TO DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT.

[programs]
UNDERGRADUATE PLANNING PROGRAM: the undergraduate major is a fully accrediated
professional program (one of only 15 in the country). It is a practical program providing students with the knowledge and skills they will need to thrive as successuly professionals. Students in the planning major typically take a required core of nine courses supplemented by electives selected in consultion with a program advisor for a total of 36 credit hours. *The planning major requires a completion of 20 hours of core and elective courses.

GRADUATE PLANNING PROGRAM: the master of science in Urban and Regional Planning at

EMU began in 2001 in response to student demand for an advanced applied degree. Completion of the graduate degree requires 36 credit hours of course work, and a passage of a comprehensive oral exam. Students will select either a thesis option or a non-thesis option that requires an intenrship and a professional report. Admission to the graduate planning program is through the Oce of Graduate Studies. A Bachelors degree is required with a minimum GPA of 2.75, along with two letters of recommendation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

WWW.PLANNING.EMICH.EDU

[meet the faculty]

Norman Tyler AICP is advisor for the graduate Planning program. He is a planner and architect specializing in downtown revitalization and historic preservation, author of books in both elds. Email: ntyler@emich.edu Heather Khan is new to the faculty in the Fall 2011 semester. Her interests include economic and community development, urban policy and politics, public nance, and growth management. Email: hkhan3@emich.edu Robert Jones is director of the Urban and Regional Planning Program. He is a planner and urban designer specializing in land use, redevelopment, and socio-cultural issues in the design of public spaces. Email: robert.jones@emich.edu Dr. Yichun Xie is director of the EMU Institute for Geospatial Research and Education. He is an internationally recognized expert in computer modeling and GIS applications. Email: yxie@emich.edu Dr. Hugh Semple is Adviser for the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Program. His specialization is the application of GIS to international planning and health-related issues. Email: hsemple@emich.edu Dr. William Welsh is a specialist in land use/ land cover change and the application of geo-spatial technologies to planning and environmental issues. Email:wwelsh@emich.edu

In great cities, spaces as well as places are designed and built: walking, witnessing, being in public, are as much part of the design and purpose as is being inside to eat, sleep, make shoes or love or music. The word citizen has to do with cities, and the ideal city is organized around citizenship --around participation in public life. -Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

department of geography and geology

urban and regional planning.