harvard

University of Washington, Berkeley, the Ivies..

You may want to consider a MRED from ASU.

It's only a 30-week program and it overlays nicely with design, planning and development.

It's expensive, no doubt.

ASU also has a lot of good UD, planning and other programs too.

I think you are right on following the UPenn/UCB/UMich route. Those programs all seem to be doing interesting things in UP that will relate to Urban Design as well. Also, check out UVA.

Stefjam,

Take a look at the forums at cyburbia.org. Lots of plannerly folks there, and many are good about sharing info.

Good luck.

Check out Planetizen.com too.

cool. thanks for the advice so far. i love planetizen and cyburbia! will definitely look on those sites too.

how about advice on international schools?

i was also looking into schools in copenhagen (royal institute of technology) because i think it would be pretty amazing to study there since that city has so many awesome planning efforts. anybody know the reputation of that school? i don't know anything about it other than what i read on their website. or mcgill in montreal seems good too.

Canada, or University of Brighton?

Washington University in St. Louis has a great Urban Design program. It is one year long and the final semester is an abroad semester.

Masters in human settlements then u can combine it with a masters in urbanism at leuven. U might even work towards the European postgrad masters in urbanism

@ namehenderson: in quebec, canada

@ fondue: on paper, the mahs leading to the mausp program track at leuven is pretty much EXACTLY what i am looking for. although i've never heard of the school (admittedly i don't know much about schools abroad, which is why i asked). what do you know about that school specifically? do you know alumni or faculty there? how well regarded is it in belgium and regions outside the area?

I'll also be applying to MaHS program--- I was actually quite surprised to see it mentioned on these forums. Stefjam, we can share info if you want, although I don't know very much about the program at this point either.

my bad....I read Masters in Sex Planning...now that is a degree I might want to pursue.

@middle: k, i'll send you an email.

@snook: sounds good to me. i mean really i just wanna design sexy cities.

stefjam -

when you say you are interested in Urban Design.....does that mean you are interested in the "design" side of planning more than the policy side? I work in Urban Design...in a firm full of architects and a few ppl with Urban Design degrees. We almost never hire any MCPs....mostly b/c those programs never focus on DESIGNING anything. Keep your interest in mind as you look around - you might be better off going for a degree with Urban Design in the title rather than "planner" - all depends what your long term goals are.

-a

Went to Ann Arbor this weekend. Boy, what a game that was!!

So, UMich is holding a very solid spot on my top choices list. My folks and I had a long meeting with a professor in the Urban Planning program and the overall perspective of the school, the studio courses and projects they work on are just what I'm looking for. I know they're trying to impress prospective applicants, but they also went way above what I expected (to the point of the chair of the department giving me his HOME phone number to call him if I had additional questions). I don't know.. that just seems pretty rare to me (and might translate to them paying very personalized attention to their students).