MS Urban and Community Planning

Pratt's accredited Urban and Community Planning (UCP) program gives students perspectives and skills to plan and implement equity-building improvements for neighborhoods, cities, and metropolitan areas. We teach participatory practice as the best way to advocate for just, equitable communities, with an emphasis on making transformative change through creativity, innovation and advocacy. Pratt’s MSUCP requires 50 credits. The schedule of classes allows students to enter in fall or spring*, and complete their studies in two years. To promote specialized or interdisciplinary study, half of the credits are in elective seminars and studios. Students are encouraged to take electives and interdisciplinary advanced studios from the three sister programs of the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment to customize a course of study that suits their academic and professional goals. 
 

About
Pratt’s MSUCP ranks fourth nationally among master’s degree-granting institutions that do not also grant PhDs (Planetizen, 2019). The 50-credit curriculum provides students with strong foundational knowledge in history, theory, law, economics, planning and research methods, data visualization, and spatial analysis. Take thematic electives within the UCP program on transportation, urban design, community development, land use, open space  resilience, affordable housing or topical special courses. Take an interdisciplinary approach and meet your own academic goals by choosing electives from the three sister programs in the GCPE, the School of Architecture, or across the Institute. 
 

Community of Practice
All full-time and part-time faculty are practitioners and deeply engaged in building equity through their own  work in the public, private and non-profit sectors and bring the commitment, and their experience, into the classroom. Small class sizes mean that you are building your professional network as soon as you walk into the classroom by  learning directly from professionals who are helping to shape the city. While the campus is in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, the work takes place all around New York City and beyond. 
 

Impact
UCP students acquire skills and actively apply them as early as their first semester through internships, fellowships, and experiential learning opportunities. Coursework in UCP studios and practicums often results directly in advocacy campaigns, funding proposals, constituent briefings, and policy innovation.  In studio classes, students learn from faculty-practitioners and work with real clients facing significant planning challenges, consistent with the UCP emphasis on participatory planning and equity issues. Recent studios have taken students to work on scenario planning through gaming for culturally-responsive and equitable future managed retreat in Far Rockaway, Queens; on implementation strategies for a community-based plan for a just transition-inspired, green re-industrialization of the Sunset Park, Brooklyn waterfront; and to create innovative, asset-based, racially-just recommendations to address wealth and income gaps in rapidly-gentrifying Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Independent, applied research in the form of a thesis or a demonstration of professional competence allows students to transition from UCP into practice upon graduation. 

An Investment in Your Future
UCP welcomes students from all backgrounds, honors prior related work experience and graduate-level classes with course credit, provides generous merit scholarships upon admission, and offers an array of paid fellowships, internships and assistantship opportunities to offset tuition and contribute to students’ developing professional networks. On-campus partnerships with the Pratt Center for Community Development and the Spatial Analysis Visualization Initiative (SAVI) provide further opportunity for professional growth and internships. Customized advisement helps students connect to courses, thesis topics and professional networks that build toward careers. Alumni have risen to the tops of their fields in affordable housing, community economic development, transportation, government, community development and advanced research. 

Chair
Courtney Knapp, PhD
718.687.5641
cknapp@pratt.edu

Department Coordinator
Devona Stewart

Office
718.399.4340
www.pratt.edu/planning

Faculty Bios