Recap on Two Years of Advice

Two years ago the Planetizen editors asked me to contribute a monthly blog posting. The first one appeared in February 2007 and I have managed to submit posts monthly for two years. In accepting the assignment, I decided that I needed to have an angle. I write, teach, and practice about the substance of planning so I decided to do something else—provide advice for students on how to enter and succeed in planning programs. Martin Krieger at USC already provided a terrific advice column for doctoral students so I decided to focus on students in professional planning programs.

1 minute read

January 31, 2009, 8:56 AM PST

By Ann Forsyth

Two years ago the Planetizen editors asked me to contribute
a monthly blog posting. The first one appeared in February 2007 and I have
managed to submit posts
monthly for two years. In accepting the assignment, I decided that I needed to
have an angle. I write, teach, and practice about the substance of planning so
I decided to do something else-provide advice for students on how to enter and
succeed in planning programs. Martin Krieger at USC already provided a terrific
advice column for doctoral students so I
decided to focus on students in professional planning programs.

The following paragraphs list many of my earlier posts clustering
them into themes. Topics include:

Getting into graduate school
in planning: how to find the right program, apply, and
decide
which offer to take up.
Undertaking the exit
project or thesis. Topics include the what, why, and when of choosing an exit option,
getting
started, troubleshooting
common problems, managing your committee, and actually
finishing.
Making the most of being a student
and learning when (not) to email experts.
Finding online resources to
increase your planning knowledge including: images, articles, organizations,
faculty
blogs, books,
more books
and movies.
Developing skills for
planning including: writing, managing time , doing a literature review, and
creating a portfolio.

I'll continue my
advice column next week with advice on picking a first job.

Advice Professional Planning

Ann Forsyth

Trained in planning and architecture, Ann Forsyth is a professor of urban planning at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. From 2007-2012 she was a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell. She taught previously at at the University of Minnesota, directing the Metropolitan Design Center (2002-2007), Harvard (1999-2002), and the University of Massachusetts (1993-1999) where she was co-director of a small community design center, the Urban Places Project. She has held short-term positions at Columbia, Macquarie, and Sydney Universities.

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Start Learning

Advertise with us

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.