Urban and Regional Planning PhD at University of Wisconsin Madison

The Ph.D. is open to a limited number of quality students who intend to teach, or do research in a university, in an independent research agency, or in large planning organizations.

Generally, students spend two years of full-time coursework before being advanced to candidacy, and an additional one to two years in preparation and defense of a dissertation. Details on administrative requirements for the degree are available in the PhD URPL Handbook.

Although the department stresses the development of general skills and mental attitudes that are common to all planning endeavors, students are required to specialize in an area of planning that is of interest to the student.

The department seeks students with high academic qualifications and the potential to become qualified professional planners. The department is especially interested in women and minority applicants. Since there are relatively few undergraduate planning programs in the country, students come into the field from a wide range of disciplines. In recent years, planning students have generally come from the social sciences, with geography, economics, political science, and sociology the most common undergraduate backgrounds. The range, however, runs from the arts to the sciences.

1. Acquire and demonstrate knowledge about the professional field of planning, as exemplified in the accreditation guidelines for the master's program in urban and regional planning and the Planning Accreditation Board. These include knowledge about: the purpose and meaning of planning, planning history, planning theory, planning law, the structure and function of cities and regions, and global dimensions of planning. Students demonstrate this knowledge through entrance requirements (a master's degree in planning or acceptable cognate field), through completion of coursework, and through completion of preliminary examinations in planning theory, planning methods, and planning specialization.
2. Acquire and demonstrate knowledge about the role and use of planning theories in both practice and research, including the historical development of planning theory, major theoretical approaches within planning, and the application of theories from other disciplines as applied to planning. Students demonstrate this knowledge through coursework and completion of a planning theory preliminary examination.
3. Acquire and demonstrate knowledge of social science research methods, including research design, data collection, and quantitative and qualitative methods used in planning research. Students demonstrate knowledge through completion of graduate coursework in research methods and through completion of a research design and methods preliminary examination.
4. Acquire and demonstrate knowledge of a substantive research and practice field within planning. Students demonstrate specialized knowledge in one of the major fields within planning through completion of coursework and through a research-specialization preliminary examination.
5. Acquire and demonstrate skills in conducting academic research and scholarly inquiry in the field of urban and regional planning, including ability to summarize and critique extant research, ability to develop a research proposal, skills in seeking funding, skills in completion of research projects, and skills in written and oral presentation of research findings.
6. Acquire and demonstrate specialized skills in research for their chosen major field within planning. This will include skills in particular research methods and data analysis specific to their chosen field within planning.
7. Acquire and demonstrate general knowledge about planning suitable to teaching master's-level planning students in accredited programs. Students will acquire and demonstrate specific knowledge about their chosen field of specialization within planning.
8. Acquire and/or demonstrate competence and experience in the professional practice of planning. Students demonstrate this skill through the requirement of previous professional work experience within the field of planning.
9. Acquire and demonstrate knowledge of planning values and planning ethics, as exemplified in the accreditation guidelines for the master's program in urban and regional planning and the Planning Accreditation Board. This would also include awareness of rules of ethical professional conduct as exemplified in the Code of Ethics of the American Institute of Certified Planners.
10. Demonstrate and be held to the highest standards of academic citation and attribution in all their coursework and published work.
11. Demonstrate understanding of professional conduct through required professional work experience in planning.
12. Be given opportunities for training and experience in classroom teaching, presentation of research at academic conferences, and development of research proposals for funding agencies.
13. Demonstrate ethics and values consistent with the "Wisconsin brand" of urban and regional planning, which includes participation, transparency in governance, environmental protection and social justice.