What should graduate students read the summer before entering planning school? For those with some time on their hands the following suggestions can help provide direction.
What should graduate students read the summer before entering planning school? Perhaps because I’m now the director of a graduate planning program I get asked this quite a bit. This is a hard question to answer. If admitted students are busy working in planning, being planning activists, or making money to support their graduate studies there may not be much time for reading. This is fine as graduate courses will lead students through a set of readings in a structured manner. However, for those with some time on their hands the following suggestions can help provide direction.
Read a set of classic articles in planning theory. This is a subfield within planning dealing with the justification of planning, planning ethics, planning and politics, and the role of planning in society. A book like Readings in Planning Theory, edited by Susan Fainstein and Scott Campbell, provides a very good overview of such articles. Such books can be picked up used for around $25 and are a good investment.
Read some classic books in the area of planning. Planteizen’s Top 20 All-Time Urban Planning Titles is a reasonable place to start. I might quibble with some entries but these are all useful books.
For a list of readings compiled by students, try the Planners Network Disorientation Guide. They have a media and book list on pages 13-16.
In the past in response to this kind of request I also compiled lists of city and metropolitan plans and famous places.
Finally I might put in a plug for my previous advice columns, indexed at http://annforsyth.net/for-students/advice/.
Applying to Graduate School in Planning: A Second Update
In 2008 and 2018, I wrote some much-read blogs about how to get into planning school. As deadlines near, I revisit that advice. I look first at the big picture of the case you need to make for the admissions committee and then the logistics.
Seoul’s Urban Parks Blossom with Books
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Planning Your Planning Degree
In the Northern Hemisphere, many students are starting urban planning degree programs. How can students position themselves for a productive and meaningful education in planning.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Chicago’s Ghost Rails
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Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
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Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.
MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.
Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie
