The M.R.P. degree program prepares professionals to recognize and promote sustainable development as the balance of ecology, economy, and equity achieved through a participatory planning process. The curriculum integrates studies of the physical, environmental, social, cultural, economic, and political facets of planning at all scales and densities: urban, suburban, small town, and rural. A studio requirement in which students undertake projects for clients is a central part of the program. Assistantships, internships, and practica represent other opportunities for professional development.

There are no prerequisites for the program. Students come from a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds, including the natural sciences, social sciences, engineering, design, and the humanities. The program is designed to balance core requirements and faculty research specialties with individual student interests.

The Curriculum
The M.R.P. is typically a two-year full-time program. Students take a series of core courses, guided electives within their area of concentration, and additional electives of their choice. These are described below.

Core Requirements
Core requirements prepare students for more advanced planning classes. They provide basic knowledge in the following areas:

1. Planning concepts, theories, philosophies and histories.

2. Techniques associated with planning; quantitative, qualitative, GIS, and other visualization methods.

3. The built environment: recognition of opportunities and challenges, and understanding the environmental consequences of land and resource use activities.

4. The political, legal, institutional, and administrative setting of planning.

5. The economic and fiscal implications of planning.

6. The social, cultural, and psychological implications of planning.

7. “Plan-making” through studio reports, theses, and terminal projects.

8. Sustainable development and participatory planning.

Concentrations
In addition to the core courses, all students take three courses within an area of concentration. This enables each student to have one or more areas of specialization within the larger interdisciplinary planning program and ensures that everyone has sufficient background to undertake advanced research on a final project or thesis. In special cases, students may pursue an independently designed concentration of their own with the approval of the program director. The main areas of concentration are:

1. Land Use and Environmental Planning. The focus of this concentration is understanding the forces affecting the built environment, the interrelationships between land use environment and social conditions, and ways to support and regulate development to best achieve community goals.  It also addresses environmental policy and planning as it relates to preserving and protecting environmental quality and habitat. Important skills for this concentration include comprehensive planning, urban and regional design, community participation methods, and applications of planning theory, as well as landscape assessment and evaluation of landscape units ranging from the local to watershed scale.

2. Equity and Cultural Planning. This concentration, focusing on social, political, and cultural analyses of the built environment, explores different social and cultural responses to the built environment, analyzing policy, planning, and design criteria for building more responsible urban forms, and intervening in discriminatory practices. Topics of study include domestic and international analyses of housing policy, urban development and land use, urban form and design, spatial relations, cultural heritage and diversity, and social change.

3. Economic and Regional Development Planning. This concentration focuses on understanding the economic and social pressures facing communities, and strategies for building local and regional economies. It explores such issues as how towns, cities, and regions will survive in a globalizing economy, and how towns and cities build communities in periods of boom and downturn. Topics of study include industrial planning, regional analysis, social planning and social impact assessment, public and private finance, land-use planning, and spatial analysis, using Geographic Information Systems as a planning tool.