Los Angeles, November 1, 2006 -- Topping the list of the best graduate urban planning programs is the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., according to Planetizen (www.planetizen.com), the leading online network for the urban planning and development community. The school's graduate planning program is one of the oldest and largest in the country and draws students from around the globe to study issues from transportation to housing development. Rounding out the top three are the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill -- both public institutions often recognized for their educational excellence.

The Planetizen 2007 Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs, produced in association with the opinion research firm Davis, Hibbits, and Midghall, Inc., is the first independent guide and systematic rankings of U.S. graduate planning programs. The guide includes rankings of the top programs by region and specialty, in addition to the top 25 overall programs.

"This new guide will be a resource for people interested in pursuing a career in urban planning," said Chris Steins, co-editor of Planetizen. "Unlike most other fields such as business or medicine, there was little information prospective graduate students could use to compare urban planning programs. This guide fills an important void in the marketplace, and will help bring attention to the profession."

The guide also includes a directory of programs in the U.S. and Canada, and advice from practitioners and current students for those considering pursuing a master's degree in urban planning.

Interest in urban planning is on the rise. With the United States recently passing the 300 million population mark, and with estimates projecting 100 million more Americans in the next 30 years, coping with urban growth is becoming a major issue in many regions across the nation. The recent controversy over government use of eminent domain to spur redevelopment is just one example of some of the new challenges that the profession faces as it works to accommodate new growth.

"This will become the Michelin guide for planners," said John Fregonese, principal of Fregonese Calthorpe Associates, a nationally-recognized land-use planning firm in Portland, Oregon, and one of small group of prominent planning professionals and educators that advised Planetizen as it produced the guide.

A list of the top ten programs, as well as the full Guide including the complete program rankings, can be found online at www.planetizen.com/topschools .

Related Link: 2007 Guide to Graduate Programs in Urban Planning

For more information contact:

Christian Peralta
Planetizen
5657 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 290
Los Angeles
CA 90036
USA

Email: [email protected]