The Master of Urban Planning (MUP) is the usual educational credential for professional planning practice. It is a two-year, or six-quarter, full time program. Requirements for undertaking graduate-level study include a satisfactory academic record and undergraduate training in one of a variety of disciplines including urban planning and environmental design or other appropriate fields, such as geography, economics, or other social sciences; English and other humanities; civil engineering and environmental studies; landscape architecture and architecture.

Students planning to enter the graduate program and who have not already completed at least one college-level course in each of the following prerequisite areas should take them prior to entering the program: Economics; Mathematics; Statistics; American Government; Environmental Systems; and Cultural Diversity. Students without sufficient background will be counseled to take the undergraduate-level prerequisite courses concurrent with their graduate studies.

The primary objective is to educate professional planners with a broad range of competence in planning and design; a second is to provide opportunities for individual studies in selected professional areas. All students are required to complete a core curriculum of essential knowledge in urban planning, design, and development covering history, contexts of design and planning, and theory; analytical methods; processes of planning and implementation; communication skills; current issues; research methods; and studio experiences.

To be awarded the Master of Urban Planning degree, the student must complete a minimum of 72 quarter credit hours of work in urban design and planning related fields, at least half of which must be at the 500-level and above. Students usually take 12 credit hours per quarter; 10 is the minimum for those receiving financial aid; 15 is the maximum normally allowed per quarter. A 3.0 cumulative grade point average in the courses taken while enrolled in the Graduate School is required for graduation. All work toward the degree must be completed within six years of entrance into the program.

The Educational Setting
Excellence in a graduate curriculum is a matter of context and necessary knowledge. The context of a curriculum is determined by the faculty - its skills, interests, and intellectual energy; by students who are part of the program; by relationships the program has to other programs and the profession; and by resources, both in and outside the University, available to students. The context is the vehicle that delivers; that shapes, excites, unites, instills, and defines the field for the student.

Studying planning and urban design at the University of Washington is enhanced by the degree program's location in a college containing architecture, landscape architecture, and building construction. The diversity of the University itself, one of the country's leading research institutions, is a significant resource of courses and faculty for the planning student. Also reflected in the curriculum is the program's situation in the Pacific Northwest's largest metropolitan area, Seattle, and the Puget Sound Region. Professional expertise and first-hand training are available to students in a wide variety of planning and urban design roles.

Requiring a core of courses in the planning curriculum is based on the premise that despite a rather wide range of bona fide professional activities that constitute urban planning, there are some subjects that all should hold in common. As a consequence, the curriculum is designed to provide for a shared set of experiences and material for all students in the program. However, we believe that excellence in planning education is not just getting the right subjects on the table. In this integrative field educational excellence cannot be measured only by the availability of significant areas of course work. Rather, it is a matter of providing a framework for the future professional; a framework of relationships to enable the professional to grow and change as does the field. It is faculty pointing out connections in terms of history, values, basic ways of approaching problems and the roles that various substantive areas and specializations have within this field and with other fields. For this reason, the program emphasizes activities of teaching, exemplifying, advising, and linking so that the experience of becoming educated in urban design and planning is as meaningful and exciting as the context of the courses.

Requirements for the Degree
Course work required for the degree consists of core courses including a master's thesis, restricted electives (or selectives), and open electives. Students are assigned a faculty advisor who, with the Graduate Program Coordinator, assists in selecting appropriate courses. An advisor from Seattle's professional community is also assigned to each new student to help develop an educational program and to establish a connection with the professional community.

Core course requirements to be met by all master degree students include thirty-three (33) credits covering the history and theory of planning and urban design, urban form, communication methods, processes and methods of planning, quantitative methods, land use planning and regulation, planning law, research methods, and a first year planning studio. Fourteen (14) credits of restricted credits are required, including courses in advanced methods and a second studio or laboratory-type course; both may be in an area of specialization. In addition, a course in planning history/theory ethics and one in urban development economics is required. A 9-credit thesis or professional project is also required upon completion of all other degree course work. The thesis or professional project is usually in the student's area of specialization. Sixteen (16) credits of the total 72 minimum required for the degree may be devoted to open electives or courses in an area of specialization.

Further Information on Core Curriculum & Electives
Internship/Field Work
Professional experience in the form of field work and internships is highly recommended prior to completion of the degree program. The Department maintains connections to facilitate placement with a variety of professional firms and agencies in urban design and planning within the Puget Sound area. Practicum seminars of variable credit are sponsored to give students an opportunity to reflect on their field experience (CEP 446 Practicum).

Specializations
A specialization in one area of planning is required of all students. The specific areas of specialization offered within the Department reflect available faculty resources and professional employment opportunities. The major areas include:

• urban design, dealing with physical form, character, and quality issues
• real estate, urban development, and housing which involves issues of policy, physical development and design, finance, and community economic development
• historic preservation, focusing on the specialized skills needed to actively protect historic districts, buildings and landscapes
• land use and infrastructure planning including its environmental, socio-economic, legal, and administrative aspects
• environmental planning, addressing the interactions between urban systems and natural processes.

Other opportunities for specialization include studies in transportation planning with Civil Engineering, public policy and management with Public Affairs, and law and coastal planning with Marine Studies.

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