City and Regional Planning

Ohio State University’s city and regional planning program at the Knowlton School of Architecture has, since 1959, produced some of the most influential and effective planning professionals in the world. The program’s high quality and small size offers a challenging and stimulating learning environment for graduate students.

The graduate program offers master’s and doctoral degrees. Both the master’s and the doctoral programs offer challenging study and stimulating research opportunities. In the master’s program, emphasis is placed on developing planners for practical professional service. Courses and assignments emphasize application of planning knowledge toward real-world situations. In the doctoral program, the key goal is for graduates to extend knowledge of the planning discipline and improve the profession. The quest for excellence is emphasized in all programs, and the high caliber faculty work diligently to offer the best education possible.

Opportunities for Students

The city and regional planning program offers extensive trainee and internship programs that feature exciting opportunities for students to receive financial assistance for their graduate work and to gain professional work experience while taking classes. A substantial percentage of students in the master’s of city and regional planning program participate in the program. Internships are typically paid and a number of students are awarded a tuition and fee waiver. 

Internship/traineeship positions vary each year, but some of the typical internships include working in the Neighborhood Services Division of the City of Columbus government, at the Ohio Public Utilities Commission, in state government offices (especially the departments of Development and Transportation), and in the county and suburban jurisdictions’ planning offices. In addition, some students work at private nonprofit organizations, such as Columbus Housing Partnership and even some private planning firms.

City and Regional Planning Concentrations

All students take a core curriculum of required classes. Beyond the core, students have three choices. They may become generalists, they may specialize in one of the areas listed below or they may create their own area of concentration.

  • Environmental and Land Use Planning
  • Geographic Information Systems
  • Housing, Real Estate and Neighborhood Planning
  • International Development Planning
  • Physical Planning and Design
  • Planning Policy and Process
  • Transportation Planning
  • Urban and Regional Economic Planning

Dual Degrees

Many students develop dual degree programs during their graduate studies. These programs give students the opportunity to earn two master’s degrees in much less time than taking the degrees individually, and they often require only a little more time than the CRP degree alone. Having two well-chosen degrees allows students to focus their work and makes them more marketable upon graduation. Students can arrange their own dual degree programs by working with the faculty in the two departments of interest to tailor their programs and find ways to use their classes to fulfill the requirements of both, or they can work within the frameworks we have already created for dual degree programs with several other entities on campus: Landscape Architecture within the Knowlton School of Architecture; the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science; Geography; Public Policy and Management; Natural Resources; African American and African Studies; and the Colleges of Law and Social Work.

Research

KSA Digital Library

The KSA Digital Library’s state-of-the-art image collections support the architecture, landscape architecture and city and regional planning curricula in the Knowlton School. Through online resources, faculty and students can access high-quality images and multimedia files for use in research, study or course work. The library’s exemplary teaching and research collections have helped to establish the school as an international resource for the study of design and planning.

Journal of Planning Literature

The Journal of Planning Literature publishes review articles and abstracts of recent literature in city and regional planning and design. Issues contain refereed literature reviews; refereed Council of Planning Librarians Bibliographies; several hundred abstracts of books, journal articles, dissertations; and several hundred bibliographic listings.

Center for Urban and Regional Analysis

The Center for Urban and Regional Analysis is an interdisciplinary research center at Ohio State that focuses on policy-oriented work on urban and regional issues. The center provides mapping capabilities, computer and data management assistance, a working paper series, a roundtable speaker series and an annual grant program for the university community. Researchers associated with the center do contract work for community organizations and funded research projects on a variety of topics.

Learn more

 

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Department website

Michelle Lee 
email | 614-292-1404
 

Get involved
City and Regional Planning Student Association