Canadian Institute of Planners

Urban planning is often overlooked as a career -- here are some ways to change that

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, July 25, 2023
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Students said they felt uncomfortable and unsafe using the field because of its unkempt conditions.

Key Points: 
  • Students said they felt uncomfortable and unsafe using the field because of its unkempt conditions.
  • Students also had to walk the 10 minutes it takes to get to the field along narrow streets.
  • We are urban planning scholars with interest in land use planning, ecological planning and design and urban green space planning.

Lack of awareness

    • Employment in the field is projected to grow by 4% between 2021 and 2031 from 41,900 jobs in 2021.
    • We wanted young people to know that urban planning is also a profession that will enable them to literally change the world around them.
    • It also suffers from a profound lack of diversity.
    • The reality of the lack of awareness of urban planning as a profession hit home for us in 2016.
    • In March 2016, School of Planning faculty members and students launched the Activate Community Empowerment initiative in an effort to turn things around.

The process of planning

    • The Activate Community Empowerment initiative – or ACE – was a three-week outreach program to help high school students, counselors and teachers become aware of the urban planning profession.
    • After students told us they wanted to improve the conditions of their playing field, School of Planning faculty members and students helped the Hughes students tackle the problem as if they were urban planners.
    • Students were asked to mark the maps to identify different issues they experienced while walking to and using Coy Field.
    • One group of students focused on the paths to Coy Field, and a second group focused on Coy Field itself.

A global look


    As a result of our work at Hughes, in 2023 we published a new book about urban planning around the world. The book is meant to draw attention to the need to make urban planning more attractive to children and young people as they explore different careers. We believe there are a series of steps that education leaders can take to raise awareness about urban planning among young people in the U.S. and throughout the world. Here are just three:

1. Partner with schools to provide real-world experiences

    • To raise awareness of urban planning among students before college, universities in general – and urban planning programs in particular – can promote youth engagement by forming partnerships with local schools.
    • The word “machizukuri” can be loosely translated as “community building.” Among other things, these entities worked with the club to provide public seating, tables, and recreation spaces for fishing and sand spots in their community.

2. Make urban planning part of the high school curriculum


    In New South Wales, Australia, inclusion of urban and regional planning in the high school geography curriculum increased students’ awareness about the profession.

3. Support prospective and existing urban planning students

    • Urban planning programs can do more to support future and current students through recruitment programs, mentorships and community engagement.
    • This article is informed by our book published by Routledge titled, "Routledge Companion to Professional Awareness and Diversity in Planning Education."