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Urban and Regional Land Planner

Urban and Regional Land Planner

Career Overview

Urban and regional planners study the use of land in an area and develop corresponding land use plans. They may review plans submitted by developers, assess the feasibility of these proposals, and make recommendations about whether or not developers can proceed. They stay up to date on local building codes and legislation.

Education

A master's degree in urban and regional planning or a related field may be required for this position. A master's degree typically takes about two-three years to earn after earning a four-year bachelor's degree. Students who enter a planning program may earn a four-year bachelor's degrees in geography, economics, architecture, engineering, or another related field.

Future Outlook

Employment of urban and regional planners is projected to grow 11 percent from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations. Demographic, transportation, and environmental changes will drive employment growth for planners.

Work Environment

Most urban and regional planners work full time during normal business hours, and some may work evenings or weekends to attend meetings with officials, planning commissions, and neighborhood groups.

Recommended High School Courses

  • Political Science
  • Communication
  • Environmental science
  • Economics
  • Environmental Engineering Designs
  • Mathematics
  • Geography

  • Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  • Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  • Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
  • Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Learning Strategies - Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
  • Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
  • Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
  • Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  • Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
  • Operations Analysis - Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
  • Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
  • Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
  • Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
  • Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
  • Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
  • Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
  • Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
  • Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
  • Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  • Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
  • Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
  • Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
  • Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
  • Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
  • Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
  • Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
  • Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
  • Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Far Vision - The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
  • Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Visualization - The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Communicate with the public on environmental issues.
  • Advise others on business or operational matters.
  • Communicate with government agencies.
  • Research impacts of environmental conservation initiatives.
  • Promote environmental sustainability or conservation initiatives.
  • Review plans or proposals for environmental conservation.
  • Mediate disputes.
  • Review professional literature to maintain professional knowledge.
  • Develop environmental sustainability plans or projects.
  • Supervise scientific or technical personnel.
  • Prepare scientific or technical reports or presentations.
  • Collaborate with technical specialists to resolve design or development problems.
  • Review environmental permits, plans, or reports.

Schools

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Appalachian State Univers...
Arizona State University
Ball State University
Boston University
Bryn Mawr College
Cal Poly Pomona
Cal Poly- San Luis Obispo...
City College Of New York
East Carolina University
Eastern Washington Univer...
Florida Atlantic Universi...
Florida International Uni...
Florida State University
Iowa State University
Jackson State University
Kent State University
Loyola University- New Or...
Michigan State University
Minnesota State Universit...
New Jersey Institute Of T...
New York University
Pratt Institute
Suny At Albany
Suny At Buffalo
University Of California-...
University Of California-...
University Of California-...
University Of Georgia
University Of Illinois At...
University Of Illinois- C...
University Of Iowa
University Of Massachuset...
University Of Minnesota-...
University Of New Mexico
University Of North Carol...
University Of North Carol...
University Of Texas- Arli...
University Of Utah
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École De Technologie S...
Mcgill University
Queen's University- Ki...
Ryerson University
University Of British...
University Of Manitoba
University Of Waterloo
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Potential Scholarships

5 Strong Scholarship
Agnes M. Lindsay Scholars...
- Traditional Fulbright P...
View More

Approx Salary Expectation

Currency:
Low End:
$45,850.00 /yr
Avg/Med:
$74,350.00 /yr
High End:
$116,280.00 /yr

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References

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
WorkBC's Career Trek, http://www.careertrekbc.ca/.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.