Program Requirements
The Master of Urban Planning (M.U.P.) Urban Planning (Non-Thesis); Transportation Planning option enables students to specialize in this field as part of their course of study for the Master of Urban Planning degree (M.U.P.). Studio courses, an internship, and a final project involve real-life applications and research.
Required Courses (49 credits)
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URBP 505 Geographic Information Systems (3 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : An introduction to fundamental geographic information system (GIS) concepts and a range of GIS applications in urban and regional planning.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Kramer, Anna (Winter)
(0-2-7)
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URBP 609 Visual Communication
1 (1 credit)
Overview
Urban Planning : Techniques used for visual communication in planning practice, including a basic introduction to software.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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URBP 610 Visual Communication 2 (1 credit)
Overview
Urban Planning : Refinement of techniques used for visual communication in planning practice, including basic use of software.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Corequisites: URBP 609
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URBP 611 Data Visualization for Planning (1 credit)
Overview
Urban Planning : An introduction to data visualization for planning, using computer applications.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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URBP 612 History and Theory of Planning (3 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : A review of planning history and theories of planning. These are examined under three categories: explanation of urban phenomena, substantive theory, and theories of process.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Wachsmuth, David (Fall)
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URBP 619 Land Use and Transport Planning (4 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Analysis of transport and land use interactions in urban areas. Study of the impacts of transport systems on travel behaviour, residential and work location decisions, and urban form; discussion of implications for planning practice.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Elgeneidy, Ahmed (Winter)
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URBP 622 Planning Studio 1 (6 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Introduction to planning practice based on real-world urban research and planning at the neighbourhood level. Topics: problem definition, methods for data collection and analysis, goal setting, design and analysis of alternative plans, public policy, plan implementation, and professional presentation techniques. Students work in interdisciplinary teams on assessments of current living conditions and on plans to improve them, including policies and projects related to housing, public space, infrastructure and services, and community development. Research and recommendations are presented in oral presentations and written reports.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Bornstein, Lisa (Fall)
Research and design studio.
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URBP 623 Planning Studio 2 (6 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Research and planning techniques for land development. Students work in teams to do research on context, program and precedents and develop a detailed plan for a site that poses urban and/or environmental challenges. Topics: site analysis, market analysis, and financial analysis; land-use regulation, real-estate development, residential planning, and housing policy; data collection and analysis, design and evaluation of alternatives, and project implementation.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Luka, Nik (Winter)
(1-5-12)
Prerequisite: URBP 622
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URBP 624 Planning Studio 3 (6 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Exploration of complex planning problems at the local or regional scale, chosen depending on the experience and research interests of the participants, for the acquisition of research and planning skills in greater depth. Students work in teams to fulfill a mandate for a public, private or third-sector client. Substantive issues vary according to clients. Topics: project management, client-consultant interactions, and professional communication.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Shearmur, Richard George (Fall)
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URBP 628 Practical Experience
Overview
Urban Planning : An internship related to the practice of urban planning is required. The practical experience must be of at least 360 hours' duration and be supervised by a professional in the planning field. An evaluation of the student's performance by the supervisor, as well as a short report by the student, forms the basis for assessment.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Shearmur, Richard George (Fall)
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URBP 630 Supervised Research Project 1 (3 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Supervised research project, providing foundations to focus on a particular area of enquiry in planning.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Bornstein, Lisa (Fall)
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URBP 631 Supervised Research Project 2 (3 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Continuation of the requirements for the Supervised Research Project.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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URBP 632 Supervised Research Project 3 (6 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Continuation of the requirements for the Supervised Research Project.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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URBP 635 Planning Law (3 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : A comparative study of private and public control of land use and development, including master plans, zoning bylaws, subdivision control, urban redevelopment, expropriation, regional planning, environmental protection, and heritage conservation.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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URBP 640 Introduction to Planning Statistics (1 credit)
Overview
Urban Planning : Introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics, focusing on building confidence and intuition in using and manipulating quantitative information. Correlation, t-tests, chi-squared tests, and bivariate regression.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Wachsmuth, David (Fall)
Restriction: Not open to students who have taken URBP 642 prior to fall 2020.
Lectures held on Friday, Oct 1, 8, 22 and 29
Web add/drop deadline is October 1, 2021
Web withdrawal with refund deadline is October 8, 2021
Web withdrawal with NO refund deadline is October 22, 2021
Labs held on Friday, Oct 1, 8, 22 and 29
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URBP 641 Reading the Urban Landscape
(1 credit)
Overview
Urban Planning : An overview of selected passive techniques that may be used to assess the congruence between urban environments and people as they go about their daily activities. These techniques include: (1) observing physical traces, (2) observing behaviour, (3) cognitive mapping and wayfinding, and (4) the assessment of the overall quality of urban environments.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Kramer, Anna (Fall)
(1-0-2)
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URBP 642 Introduction to Planning Data (1 credit)
Overview
Urban Planning : Techniques of exploratory data analysis. Data cleaning and transformation. Visualization techniques. Census data and the methods most commonly used to analyze them. Principles of reproducible research.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Wachsmuth, David (Fall)
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Complementary Courses (11 credits)
Group A
5-11 credits from the following:
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CIVE 540 Urban Transportation Planning (3 credits)
Overview
Civil Engineering : Process and techniques of urban transportation engineering and planning, including demand analysis framework, data collection procedures, travel demand modelling and forecasting, and cost-effectiveness framework for evaluation of project and system alternatives.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Miranda-Moreno, Luis (Winter)
(3-1-5)
Prerequisite: CIVE 319 or permission of instructor.
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CIVE 561 Greenhouse Gas Emissions (3 credits)
Overview
Civil Engineering : Greenhouse gas inventories at various scales from national to institutional. Emission estimation methods including field measurements and engineering calculations for anthropogenic sources including fossil fuel combustion from transportation and energy production, cement production, hydroelectric reservoirs, oil and gas systems, landfills, wastewater treatment and sewer systems, and agriculture. Technical and policy options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Group project.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
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CIVE 637 Discrete Choice Modeling in Transportation (4 credits)
Overview
Civil Engineering : Data set assembly, multivariate regression analysis, individual choice theory, random utility frameworks, ordered and unordered response models, model estimation using maximum likelihood approaches, review of state of the art and recent advances in the field.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor
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CIVE 661 Modelling of Transportation Emissions (4 credits)
Overview
Civil Engineering : Interactions between transportation modeling and emissions modeling; models for on-road and non-road emissions; impacts of technology, fuel quality, and driving behaviour on the generation of vehicle emissions. Effects of alternative fuels.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Permission of instructor.
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URBP 503 Public Transport: Planning and Operations (3 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Overview of topics in planning and operations for public transport with special emphasis on best-practice strategies of contemporary urban systems.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Restriction: Graduate students and U3 students only.
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URBP 504 Planning for Active Transportation (3 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : The importance of transit, walking, and cycling as modes of transportation in sustainable urban environments. Planning, design, and operation of mass transit systems, bikeways, and footpaths.
Terms: Winter 2025
Instructors: Elgeneidy, Ahmed (Winter)
(3-0-6)
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URBP 506 Environmental Policy and Planning (3 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Analytical and institutional approaches for understanding and addressing environmental issues at various scales; characteristics of environmental issues, science-policy-politics interactions relating to the environment, and implications for policy; sustainability, and the need for and challenges associated with interdisciplinary perspectives; externalities and their regulation; public goods; risk perception and implications; the political-institutional context and policy instruments; cost-benefit analysis; multiple-criteria decision-making approaches; multidimensional life-cycle analysis; policy implementation issues; conflict resolution; case studies.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Badami, Madhav Govind (Fall)
(3-0-6)
Restriction: This course is open to students in U3 and above
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URBP 536 Current Issues in Transportation 1 (2 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Current transportation issues and topics are addressed from practitioner and academic perspectives.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Elgeneidy, Ahmed (Fall)
(1-0-5)
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URBP 537 Current Issues in Transportation 2 (2 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Current transportation issues and topics are addressed from the perspectives of both professional practitioners and academics.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
(1-0-5)
Prerequisite: URBP 536
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URBP 608 Advanced GIS Applications (3 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Introduces students to real-world geographic information systems (GIS) problems and enhances the mastering of the geographic information systems as a tool for solving complex urban planning problems. Students will analyze several planning research problems spatially and introduce solutions to these issues.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prerequisite (s): URBP 505 or permission of the instructor
Restriction (s): Open to graduate students in Urban Planning, Urban Design, Civil Engineering, Geography (or permission of instructor)
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URBP 620 Transport Economics (4 credits)
Overview
Urban Planning : Economic and financial aspects of urban transport policies and planning. Introduction to impact assessment techniques for major transport projects and policies; discussion of political debates concerning transport financing.
Terms: Fall 2024
Instructors: Elgeneidy, Ahmed (Fall)
Prerequisite: An introductory course in microeconomics or permission of instructor.
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URBP 643 Selected Geographic Information Systems Applications
(1 credit)
Overview
Urban Planning : Selected applications in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) related to urban planning.
Terms: This course is not scheduled for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Instructors: There are no professors associated with this course for the 2024-2025 academic year.
Group B
0-6 credits
0-6 credits of coursework at the 500 or 600 level offered by any offered by any academic unit at McGill or another Montreal university, with the approval of the School, if they help students to develop an in-depth knowledge of one or more subject areas in the field of planning. Choices usually include courses in real-estate analysis, urban geography, sociology, anthropology, law, politics, and environmental science. Students must confirm prior to registration that the selected course(s) can be counted toward the M.U.P. degree.