Community and Regional Planning

Downtown Austin skyline
COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING
How to Apply

The Graduate Program in Community and Regional Planning (CRP) is housed within The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture (UTSOA). Our program draws upon the full resources of a top-ranked, tier-1 research university, and offers a course of study that combines cutting-edge research and practice where students engage in real-world projects.

The CRP Program provides its graduates with the theoretical foundations, specific skills, and practical experience to succeed in professional planning and related policy careers. We strive to create a diverse student body and program and are deeply committed to building a professional planning community that resembles the communities in which our students and faculty work.

WHAT MAKES US UNIQUE

We are a small and friendly program of about 100 graduate students housed in a major tier-1 research university, with a student-faculty ratio under 9:1. Our program has a strong focus on sustainable development processes and practices. We seek development paths that balance growth with improved environmental performance while expanding opportunities for all segments of the community. Planning faculty and students are involved in an array of innovative research and practice activities in sustainability through our major research center, the Center for Sustainable Development, and our program also carries out exciting research and project work in our local community and around the world.

AUSTIN IS OUR LABORATORY

Our program is located in one of the most vibrant and fast-growing cities in the country, providing students with a bounty of interesting and exciting things to do. The city and surrounding region also offer a unique breadth of real-life planning challenges and serves as a laboratory for our courses and research projects. In addition to local planning decisions, Austin, as the state capital, is the central forum for state-level issues. The result is a unique setting for community and regional planning, where there are diverse opportunities for planning-related academic study and engagement, and an attractive job market for planners and for a variety of allied professions.

#9 PLANNING PROGRAM IN THE U.S.

Downtown Austin skyline seen through the trees along Lady Bird Lake

The only comprehensive ranking of graduate planning programs, Planetizen’s ranking is a testament to the program’s commitment to preparing the next generation of planners to change the world.

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Community and Regional Planning

DEGREES + PROGRAMS

The Community and Regional Planning Program at the University of Texas at Austin offers six graduate-level degree programs as well as a Ph.D. in Community and Regional Planning. 

GRADUATE PH.D.

Master of Science in Community and Regional Planning [MSCRP]

MSCRP + Master of Science in Sustainable Design

MSCRP + Master of Science in Urban Design

MSCRP + Master of Arts in Latin American Studies

MSCRP + Master of Public Affairs

MSCRP + Doctor of Jurisprudence

Ph.D, in Community and Regional Planning

CITY FORUM LECTURE SERIES

City Forum is a planning and urban issues speaker series intended to provide a space for open, critical dialogue regarding crucial planning-related issues in Austin and elsewhere. The speaker series is intended to encourage discussion of diversity, multiple publics, and social change.

COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING WORK

Click on images below for more information on CRP projects.

  • Instagram Post
    We’re delighted to have Karel Klein (@karelnyla) as a visiting professor this fall semester, where she is teaching an advanced design studio, “The Atomic Uncanny: Estranging the Case Study House.”<br>
    @utsoa

    We’re delighted to have Karel Klein (@karelnyla) as a visiting professor this fall semester, where she is teaching an advanced design studio, “The Atomic Uncanny: Estranging the Case Study House.”

  • Instagram Post
    Application deadlines are quickly approaching for undergraduate and graduate programs!<br>&nbsp;<br>Join an interdisciplinary community of designers, planners, and scholars committed to creative exploration, ambitious scholarship, and critical practice.&nbsp;<br>&nbsp;
    @utsoa

    Application deadlines are quickly approaching for undergraduate and graduate programs!
     
    Join an interdisciplinary community of designers, planners, and scholars committed to creative exploration, ambitious scholarship, and critical practice. 
     

  • Instagram Post
    Today, masters of architecture student Meghan Costello (@meghan_costello_), who is doing a professional residency in Japan with Shigeru Ban Architects (SBA), is taking over our Instagram stories from Tokyo to share what she’s been up to.<br>
    @utsoa

    Today, masters of architecture student Meghan Costello (@meghan_costello_), who is doing a professional residency in Japan with Shigeru Ban Architects (SBA), is taking over our Instagram stories from Tokyo to share what she’s been up to.

  • Instagram Post
    This fall, work by Associate Professor @phoebelickwar and landscape architecture students was displayed at the 2024 International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) exhibition, “Nature of Hope.” <br>
    @utsoa

    This fall, work by Associate Professor @phoebelickwar and landscape architecture students was displayed at the 2024 International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) exhibition, “Nature of Hope.”

  • Instagram Post
    “It Takes a Village: A Cooperative Housing Project Through Aggregation” by Olivia Bowness @olivia_bowness for Martin Hättasch’s Horizontal Studio // 2023-2024 Design Excellence winner<br>
    @utsoa

    “It Takes a Village: A Cooperative Housing Project Through Aggregation” by Olivia Bowness @olivia_bowness for Martin Hättasch’s Horizontal Studio // 2023-2024 Design Excellence winner

  • Instagram Post
    If you’re interested in environmental planning, green infrastructure planning, or water resources planning, meet Associate Professor Katherine Lieberknecht.<br>
    @utsoa

    If you’re interested in environmental planning, green infrastructure planning, or water resources planning, meet Associate Professor Katherine Lieberknecht.

  • Instagram Post
    In response to Austin’s density initiative and in consideration of the city’s rich natural resources,&nbsp; students in Danelle Briscoe’s (@danellebriscoe) “Other Nature” studio are proposing habitations for both human and non-human species to counter the effects of development that put fauna at risk.<br>
    @utsoa

    In response to Austin’s density initiative and in consideration of the city’s rich natural resources,  students in Danelle Briscoe’s (@danellebriscoe) “Other Nature” studio are proposing habitations for both human and non-human species to counter the effects of development that put fauna at risk.

  • Instagram Post
    Looking for something to do this weekend? Kory Bieg’s (@kory_bieg) and Clay Odom’s (@studiomodo) latest public art collaboration is on display this week at the Waterloo Greenway for the 2024 Creekshow.<br>
    @utsoa

    Looking for something to do this weekend? Kory Bieg’s (@kory_bieg) and Clay Odom’s (@studiomodo) latest public art collaboration is on display this week at the Waterloo Greenway for the 2024 Creekshow.

  • Instagram Post
    Congratulations to Assistant Professor Tara Dudley, Lecturer Mark Wolfe, and the Hogg Memorial Auditorium renovation team on their 2024 Preservation Austin Merit Awards!
    @utsoa

    Congratulations to Assistant Professor Tara Dudley, Lecturer Mark Wolfe, and the Hogg Memorial Auditorium renovation team on their 2024 Preservation Austin Merit Awards!