Interdisciplinary Track Option

There are two options for students who wish to fulfill the Interdisciplinary Track:  The traditional core curriculum which includes additional studio training, and a variant on the traditional core that adds more “methods” courses.  Talk with your faculty advisor about these options, compared to a specialization track, and have the Interdisciplinary Option Form Completed. 

Interdisciplinary Option 1: “Traditional Core”

(three courses plus one studio—12 credits total):

When the faculty liberalized the curriculum several years ago, certain formerly required courses in the  core curriculum were re-named  “foundational electives”—that is, sufficiently important to be recognized as “foundational” but not so essential that all such courses had to be required of all students.  However, a perfectly legitimate and sound approach to planning education is to pursue the traditional curriculum.  Students wishing to do so would:

Complete the foundational elective sequence with 2 additional courses (6 credits)
(three of five already required in M.U.P. program; take the other two to complete sequence below)

  • PD 508 Race, Class, Gender and the City
  • PD 535 Urban Management and Governance
  • PD 538 Economic Concepts
  • PD 567 Planning Law
  • PD 573 Land Use and Physical Planning

Complete an additional studio (6 credits)              
(one six-credit studio already required)

Interdisciplinary Option 2: “Core” plus More

(four courses – 12 credits total):

Some believe that planning practice has increasingly focused on quantitative and qualitative analysis.  This notion is based upon the reality that we now live in an “information age,” and that part of the planner’s key role is to manage information.  Students wishing to have greater exposure to methods used in practice would:

Complete the foundational elective sequence, 2 additional courses (6 credits)
(three of five already required in M.U.P. program; see list above)

Complete two additional “methods” courses from list below, 2 additional courses (6 credits)

  • PD 525 Financing Urban Development
  • PD 561 Qualitative Methods for Planners
  • PD 562  Transportation, Land Use and Urban Form
  • PD 569  GIS Applications
  • PD 578  Environmental Planning Methods