Urban and Regional Planners

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Urban and Regional Planners

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Create large-scale policies on how municipalities like cities, counties, and metropolitan areas will utilize their land and physical infrastructure.

Career Snapshot

ABOUT URBAN OR REGIONAL PLANNER CAREERS

What will the future cities look like? And how must today's cities evolve to meet the demands of the future? The intriguing work of urban and regional planners is to answer these concerns. They advocate for the most efficient use of a community's land and resources for residential, commercial, institutional, and recreational uses. They create short- and long-term plans to support the growth and rejuvenation of all types of communities, from rural to urban.

Government officials and citizens rely on their knowledge to make judgments on social, economic, and environmental challenges. This is a field that necessitates undergraduate study, sometimes a graduate degree, and knowledge in a specific area of planning, such as architecture or agriculture.

Planners must stay current on the economic and legal concerns raised by zoning ordinances and environmental legislation. They typically attend meetings or public hearings with citizen organisations in the evenings and on weekends. They use computers to capture and analyse data, as well as to create reports.

Excellent oral and written communication skills are required. It also helps to be a good negotiator, because one thing is guaranteed about the future: no one will agree on what it should look like.