Urban and Community Planning, MS

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Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment>
Urban and Community Planning, MS

Gain the perspectives and skills you'll need to become a practicing planner. Learn how to use participatory practice to plan and implement improvements that build equity for communities, neighborhoods, cities, and metropolitan areas.

Two people discuss while sitting next to a table covered in documents and blueprints. There is a computer with a map on its screen resting on the table.

Type: Graduate, MS
Start Term: Fall or Spring
Credits: 50
Duration: 2 years
Courses: Plan of Study
School and Department: School of Architecture,
Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment

Urban and Community Planning at Pratt

Pratt’s Urban and Community Planning program is where you can put your passion for social justice to work. You’ll develop the skills to plan, design, and implement transformational solutions for metropolitan areas, cities, neighborhoods, and communities—using creativity, innovation, and advocacy.

Experiential learning opportunities working in partnership with communities allow you to make an impact while building foundational knowledge to:

develop policies and solutions for affordable housing, equitable transit, and sustainable land use.
promote social justice through asset-based community development.
achieve climate justice goals through sustainable development and management practices.

We also offer a 9-credit Advanced Certificate in Community Planning. For information on both the MS program and Advanced Certificate, contact: Eve Baron, Academic Director, MS in Urban and Community Planning, ebaron@pratt.edu.

Student Work

Take a look at examples of work by recent Urban and Community Planning, MS graduates, and imagine what you might be able to do!

The Experience

Interdisciplinary, socially engaged, and justice-driven, our tight-knit community is connected by a shared mission for transformative change. With class sizes of just 8-12, you’ll collaborate closely with your team, faculty, and community partners to learn the skills needed to create strategies and systems that meet real-world challenges. Evening classes allow you to continue working or to take internships during the day. You’ll have an opportunity to customize your curriculum by taking classes in the other GCPE programs, and to develop an interdisciplinary approach needed to tackle the most pressing challenges using today’s approaches and technologies.

Community of Practice

Customized advisement helps you connect to courses, thesis topics and professional networks that build toward careers. Small class sizes mean that you are building your professional network as soon as you walk into the classroom, learning directly from practicing professionals who are helping to shape the city. While the campus is located in historic Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, the work takes place all around New York City and beyond. You’ll gain exposure to the network of grassroots and community-based organizations leading the charge for change. On-campus partnerships with the Pratt Center for Community Development, Spatial Analysis Visualization Initiative (SAVI), and Pratt’s research opportunities and facilities provide even more pathways for fellowships, internships, and professional growth. Take your research a step further, enhancing your knowledge of design and fabrication of the built environment, by taking advantage of the Pratt Maker spaces and labs.

Internships and Experiential Learning

As early as your first semester, you can apply new skills through internships, fellowships, and experiential learning in advocacy campaigns, funding proposals, constituent briefings, and policy innovation. New York City presents a wealth of opportunities to become involved in crucial planning issues inside and outside the classroom. In studio classes, you’ll work with real clients facing significant planning and equity challenges.

Recent examples of studio projects include a community-centered plan for the reuse of the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx based on the vision of community partners Mothers on the Move and the Northwest Bronx Community Clergy Coalition; a travel studio in Atlanta, Georgia that worked in coalition with local organizations and an affordable housing developer to create plans for a “Just Transition for Vine City;” and a Bronx-based housing strategy to help home health care workers to live in safe, affordable housing in proximity to their clients and to benefit from a robust health care infrastructure.

Internships are a great way to deepen your skills and hone your practice. The Urban and Community Planning has strong ties to dozens of local nonprofits, community-based organizations, community development corporations, civic groups, public agencies, and private consulting firms eager to hire Pratt students as interns.

Study Abroad

Immersing yourself in another culture is an invaluable experience that can extend the boundaries of creativity. Study abroad programs are an integral part of the college experience, and Pratt has deep connections with university partners around the world. Urban and Community Planning students have opportunities to study in such diverse locations as Rio de Janeiro, Puerto Rico, Havana, Cuba, the Netherlands, and Tokyo, Japan. These travel abroad experiences are made stronger by our connections to local grassroots, civic, and academic institutions and opportunities to engage in local issues.

Learning Resources

We develop disciplinary fluency in our program of study and we celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of design critical to address the plurality and complexity of the environments in which we operate. Learn about resources.

Our Faculty

All full-time and part-time faculty are practitioners and deeply engaged in building equity through their own work in the public, private and nonprofit sectors. They bring the commitment, and their experience, into the classroom and into their interactions with you. You’ll learn from top professionals working in diverse capacities–from directors of nonprofits, to city agency and governmental leaders, to planners working in private firms, to community planners and organizers, to landscape architects, to policy analysts. You’ll see firsthand the range of opportunities available to those with planning degrees.

Eve Baron
Chairperson, Center for Planning and the Environment
Jonathan Martin
Professor
John Shapiro
Professor
Juan Camilo Osorio
Associate Professor
Ronald Shiffman
Visiting Professor
Mercedes Narciso
Adjunct Associate Professor
Samara Swanston
Visiting Assistant Professor
David Kallick
Visiting Assistant Professor
Mark Winston Griffith
Visiting Assistant Professor
Tara Duvivier
Senior Planner; Visiting Assistant Professor
Sophonie Joseph
Adjunct Associate Professor
David Burney
Academic Director of Urban Placemaking Management; Visiting Associate Professor
Courtney Knapp
Professor

Our Alumni

Urban and Community Planning alumni have risen to the tops of their fields in affordable housing, community economic development, transportation, government, community development and advanced research.

Take a look at where recent graduates work:

Matt Ladd, 2022, is now the Real Estate Project Manager at St. Nick’s Alliance
Ethan Schwimmer, 2022, is now an Associate Consultant-Transportation Planner at WSP USA
Yuri Chang, 2022, is now a Director at Karp Strategies
Carl Shumate, 2022, is now the Assistant District Manager at Manhattan Community Board 3
Amron Lee, 2022, is now a Project Associate at Hester Street
Shweta Iyer, 2022, is now an Analyst – Policy and Stakeholder Engagement at Karp Strategies
James Tschikov, 2023, is now a Manhattan Borough Planner at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development
Agata Naklicka, 2023, is now a Manhattan Borough Planner at the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development
Leanna Molnar, 2023, is now an Emergency Management Analyst at NYU Langone Health
Kieran Micka-Malloy, 2023, is now the Energy Advisor at the Pratt Center for Community Development
Shelby Ketchum, 2023, is now the Inflation Reduction Act Specialist at Seattle City Light
Suzanne Goldberg, 2023, is now a Planner at BFJ Planning
Lindsey Cassone, 2023, is now an Environmental Planner at VHB
Sophia Hull, 2023, is now an Environmental Planner at Hudson County Division of Planning
Michaela Brochetti, 2023, is now a Project Coordinator for the Business Preparedness and Resiliency Program at the NYC Department of Small Business Services

Success Stories

A portrait of a woman standing in front of a bookshelf filled with old hardcover books. She is wearing a brown and beige houndstooth coat with black buttons and a black shirt underneath. The woman is smiling softly and has her dark hair pulled back, with a calm and relaxed expression.

Alumni Spotlight: Saba Mahmood (UCP ‘24) Brings Community and Climate Resilience Together as an FCNY Fellow

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A portrait of a smiling man with short brown hair and a light beard, wearing a dark patterned sweater. He is standing against a dark background.

Alumni Spotlight: Nadav Bigelman UCP ‘24 Cultivates Urban Equity Through Canopy Coverage

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A group of five people standing closely together outdoors, smiling at the camera. The group consists of four women and one man. The woman on the far left is wearing a light-colored dress with pink patterns, the next woman is wearing a black top, the woman in the center is wearing a pink dress and holding a drink, the woman next to her is wearing a black sleeveless top, and the man on the far right is wearing a blue sweater over a striped shirt. They are all standing in front of a large pillar with other people in the background, blurred out.

New Futures for Urbanism: Congratulations to the GCPE Class of 2024

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View of the Municipal Building in Manhattan

Shaping a Positive Future for NYC

Article

Students Reimagine an Avenue of Confederate Monuments as Inclusive Community Space

Article

Putting the Community First in Planning for a Brooklyn Neighborhood’s Future

Article

The Alice Austen House Museum on Staten Island (courtesy Vicki Weiner)

Amplifying an Unsung Site of Queer History on Staten Island

Article

Pratt Summer Abroad: Dispatch from Tokyo II

Article

NYC taxis and for-hire vans lined up on a city street between low brick towers

With Ahmad Shaibani, MS City and Regional Planning ’17

Prattfolio Story

Reimagining Place Together: Taconic Fellows and Rockaway Residents Envision Landfill’s Future

Article

From L-R, top to bottom: Graduate students from the School of Information in Rome (photo by Francesca Strathern, MSLIS '24); Urban Placemaking and Urban and Community Planning students in Havana (photo by David Burney); Sustainable Environmental Systems students in Paris (photo by Elliott Maltby); Historic Preservation students at the Roberto Burle Marx Estate, a world heritage site near Rio de Janeiro

Scenes from Trips Abroad

Article

Ready for More?

HERE’S HOW TO APPLY	OUR CAMPUS & BEYOND
Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.	You’ll find yourself at home at Pratt. Learn more about our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, gallery exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighborhood communities. Check us out.

Upcoming Information Sessions

All times ET

GCPE Advanced Certificate Info Session

Tuesday, September 10, 2024 4:30pm -5:30pm (virtual)

RSVP

GCPE MS Graduate Admissions Info Session

Thursday, September 12, 2024 10am -12pm (virtual)
Thursday, October 10, 2024 3 – 5pm (In Person + Campus Tour + Studio Visit)
Tuesday, November 12, 2024 10am – 12pm
Thursday, November 21, 2024 10am-12pm (Virtual 1:1’s)
Thursday, February 18, 2025 9:30am – 10:30am (Virtual)

RSVP

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From the Catalog

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
Eve Baron PhD
718.687.5641
ebaron@pratt.edu

Assistant to the Chair
Devona Stewart

Office
718.399.4340
www.pratt.edu/planning

Faculty Bios
www.pratt.edu/city-and-regional-planning/faculty-and-staff

Students shall demonstrate both professional competency in the planning field and the ability to independently pursue original thinking and research.
Students shall demonstrate a foundational understanding of planning theory and values, especially participatory planning, urban conditions and trends, especially in the community planning context; equity and sustainability at multiple scales; and a balance of theory and practice, especially with regard to the use of ideas and information.
Students shall demonstrate technical proficiency consistent with the highest standards of the profession, including quantitative methods, qualitative methods, and written, oral and graphic communication skills.
Students shall demonstrate knowledge and proficiency in planning practice, potentially with a concentration in community development, physical planning, urban sustainability, and historic preservation.
Students shall demonstrate collaborative skills, critical thinking, and an ability to lead in an interdisciplinary environment enabled through service learning opportunities.
Students shall exit Pratt as engaged professionals on the path to participate meaningfully in the field; help preserve the environment for generations to come; and foster inclusive planning and just cities.
Students, full-time and part-time faculty are connected, enriched, and advanced in their professions through formal collaboration on service-oriented projects, research and publication.

Urban and Community Planning at Pratt

Student Work

The Experience

Community of Practice

Internships and Experiential Learning

Study Abroad

Learning Resources

Our Faculty

Our Alumni

Take a look at where recent graduates work:

Success Stories

Ready for More?

Upcoming Information Sessions

GCPE Advanced Certificate Info Session

GCPE MS Graduate Admissions Info Session

Social media

From the Catalog

Sample Courses

Program Overview

Learning Outcomes

School of Architecture

Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment