4.1 Program Structure
4.2 Program Content
Conclusions


Section Four: Program of Study

As is clear from the preceding analysis of planning education philosophies, there is a wide range of approaches taken. This is further reflected in the actual program content and structure. This section examines the curriculum of the eighteen schools and attempts to answer several key questions about the program of study required for the professional planning degree.
This assessment of the curriculum is based on the information provided in the program handbooks that schools send out to prospective students. This usually consists of short paragraph descriptions of the courses and a brief overview of the degree requirements and program structure. Several limitations are inherent in this approach - descriptions may not accurately reflect the actual course content, and not all courses may actually be offered on an ongoing basis (i.e. during a given students two year tenure, etc.) Nevertheless, an overall profile of current planning school curriculums in North America, and particularly Canada, can be gleaned, and UBCs place in the spectrum of offerings can be seen.

4.1 Program Structure
Introduction

In attempting to prepare students for a career in planning, schools design a mix of learning experiences. The relative value of these experiences is beyond the scope of this study and probably varies with each individual students goals and learning style. Schools attempt a balance of structure and freedom, and the result reflects a mix of the schools perspective on both the field of planning and the field of education.

Method of Evaluation

The credits required in core courses, an area of concentration, a thesis, and electives for a Masters degree from each of the schools were listed along with total credits required for the degree. Each program component was then calculated as a percent of total credits to give comparable data for each school. When individual schools had a range of program options, these variations are shown as School-1, School-2, etc. This data is shown in Table 4.1.1

The primary limitation with this method is that in most schools there are subtleties, details and variations that are not expressed in a programs introductory material. Also, programs are in flux, because other schools, like UBC, are undoubtedly examining and refining their curriculum.

Table 4.1.1 Program Structure

Findings

Core Curriculum

In The Core Curriculum Revisited, Friedmann (1996) essentially reconfirms Perloffs seminal 1957 concept of a common core (or generalist) with a specialty, and uses this concept as a starting point for the changes he proposes. Although to varying degrees, the data shows that planning schools are structured to this model. Except for York, all of the schools have some course(s) required of all students. The proportion of their degree made up of required courses ranges from 5% at Montreal to 80% at Manitoba, with most falling around the average of 39%. UBC is at the low end, prescribing only 20% of students programs in common requirements. Figure 4.1.1 illustrates core requirements as a percentage of the total degree requirements (based on course credits) for each of the schools.

Figure 4.1.1 Core Courses as Percent of Total Program


Area of Concentration

Half of the schools further require that a specific proportion of credits be taken in the area of concentration. The proportion of courses required in the concentration ranged from 10% at Harvard to 63% at York-2, with an average of 25%. Chapel Hill has specific courses required for each concentration. Two others, Oregon and UCLA, have one and two courses required respectively, with additional concentration courses chosen from a longer list of options. UBC varies depending on the concentration. At one extreme are the International Development and the Community Development streams, both with no specified concentration requirements. At the other extreme is the newly added Urban Spatial Structure stream with concentration requirements equaling 40% of the program. Of these credits, half are specified and half are choices of one out of three or four options. The Regional and Natural Resources stream falls in between with four courses required (20%).

At the remaining schools both the proportion and the content of elective courses relating to the concentration are individually determined. Figure 4.1.2 shows the proportion of coursework expected in the area of concentration in the schools that specify it.

Figure 4.1.2 Concentration Courses as Percent of Total Program

Thesis or Equivalent

Although all of the schools require a thesis or comparable independent work, the definition and flexibility of this requirement vary widely. In terms of overall proportions, the range is from 2% to 50% of the program, with an average of 19%.

Four of the schools specify a Masters Thesis as a requirement and place varying levels of emphasis on this as a portion of the total degree requirement UBC (20%), Waterloo (29%), TUNS (19%), and Maryland (18%). The flexibility of this requirement is unclear in terms of subject matter and format. Calgary (no credit), Toronto (no credit), McGill (22%) and Chapel Hill (6%) all specify a Masters Project or Report which seem similar to a thesis but perhaps less rigidly academic and more practice oriented. Calgary and Toronto appear to offer no credit for this component of the program. The other schools offer options with varying credit, generally differentiating between a thesis, a project, a report, and/or a research paper Queens (thesis - 25%, or report - 12% ), Montreal (thesis -35%, or project 15%), Washington (thesis or project - 13%), Oregon (thesis or project - 7% to 17%), York (thesis, paper or project - 13%), and Cornell (thesis or project - 2% to 20%, research paper - 8%). Harvard, Laval, and UCLA have the most practice oriented focus in their thesis or equivalent requirement. Harvard and Laval offer a studio option, alternatively students can choose to do a thesis. At Harvard this takes the place of a fourth term studio option and one course, at Laval the thesis takes the place of a group project worth four courses and six additional elective courses. A third option at Harvard is all courses. UCLA offers a thesis, a client oriented project, or a simulated client oriented project as options - the first two options are worth two courses and the third is held over two weeks, is offered by a faculty committee and receives no credit, as it is essentially an examination. As indicated above, UBC is one of a small group of schools offering a standard academic thesis for a fixed amount of credits. At 20%, UBC ranks 7th highest in proportion of program taken up by thesis. A desription of the various thesis or equivalent options can be seen in Appendix A. Figure 4.1.3 shows the program proportions dedicated to the thesis.

Figure 4.1.3 Thesis or Equivalent as Percent of Total Program


Electives

The remainder of the programs are made up of electives. This proportion ranges from 80% at Montreal-2 to 11% at UCLA, with an average of 36% and a median of 26%. At UBC, the range of flexibility varies between twenty and sixty percent depending on the concentration. Figure 4.1.4 shows the relative rank of the schools based on elective proportions.

Figure 4.1.4 Elective Courses as Percent of Total Program

4.2 Program Content
Introduction

What future planners should be taught is a subject that is debated continuously, perhaps because there is no single answer for all potential planning roles. It would be nearly impossible to summarize what is being taught by a sample of planning schools without conducting a substantial survey with committed participation by all of the schools. It was possible, however, to develop a list of things that planning schools should teach based on the literature and to see to what extent they address this material. The results of this analysis are presented in this section.

Method of Evaluation

Two different articles were combined to create a framework for assessing the courses. Friedmanns six sociospatial processes, previously discussed in the mission statement analysis, were used in combination with his other recommendations for a planning curriculum. Added to this was a breakdown of quantitative methods derived from Kaufman and Simons, Quantitative and Research Methods in Planning: Are Schools Teaching What Practitioners Practice? (1995). For each of the 50 categories derived from these sources (Table 4.2.1) schools were given group designations (Table 4.2.2) for each category, based on the course descriptions in the handbooks.

Table 4.2.1 - Topics Assessed


Table 4.2.2 - Group Designations

The limitations of this process are clear given the sheer number of variables, the volume of source information and the inherent subjectivity of the method. As mentioned earlier, the actual source data itself was problematic in that what is said and what is done is likely to be different. However, some general observations can be made about topical coverage and general trends in course content.

Findings

Sociospatial processes

Of Friedmanns six sociospatial processes described in Section 3.1, environmental and political processes are the most strongly covered, with 94% of the schools covering each as a major topic either as a core course (1.1) or as a full course offering (1). Adding those schools that offer a course which includes the given topic (2), brings urbanization up to 95% (from 89%) and empowerment up to 89% (from 72%). This combination of core course (1.1), full course (1), and covered in a course (2) is referred to as explicit course coverage in this report. Economic and cultural processes are both slightly less prevalent in explicit course coverage at 83% and 78% respectively. Table 4.2.3 illustrates the school by school comparison of both mission statement and course coverage of these six topics. Figure 4.2.1 compares the ranking of course coverage and mission statement coverage of these processes for each school.

Table 4.2.3 Comparison of School Coverage of Sociospatial Processes in Courses and Mission Statements


Figure 4.2.1 Explicit Coverage of Sociospatial Processes in Courses and Mission Statements


It is clear from this comparison that more schools cover these topics in their courses than discuss these ideas in their mission statements. This is particularly true of cultural processes which appeared very infrequently in the mission statements and also less frequently than the other sociospatial processes in the course descriptions. Nonetheless, cultural processes were still explicitly taught in most of the schools (78%). Other course topics that are offered but not mentioned in the mission of the departments included empowerment and political processes. There were three cases where a topic was discussed in the mission statement but not readily apparent in the courses. For economic processes, Oregon discusses the concept but fails to make it clear in the course descriptions. At McGill both political and empowerment processes were present in the missions but not clear in the courses. Ten of the schools explicitly cover all of Friedmanns sociospatial processes in their courses (UCLA, Cornell, Harvard, Manitoba, North Carolina, Queens, Toronto, TUNS, Waterloo, and York). Another four (UBC, Calgary, Laval, and Montreal) are explicit about five out of six processes and imply the sixth. Oregon is only explicit about four, implying two others, while both McGill and Washington make no mention of two of these processes - empowerment for both, and economic and cultural processes respectively. UBC is explicit in both its mission statement and courses about five of these processes - urbanization, political, economic, environmental , and empowerment . Although UBC makes no mention in the mission statement of cultural processes, it was apparent in the courses.

Subject Coverage in the Core Curriculum

All topics that scored a 1.1 (core course) are shown in Figure 4.2.2 as a percentage of schools covering that topic. Four broad categories leap out -- history, theory, and practice (78%), studios (67%), law/legal context (61%), and quantitative methods (61%). Additional topics are shown, but generally represent only one to four schools. There are no other broad subject areas that are commonly covered. Note that this study looked at the schools based on a common list of subjects, but did not take a complete list of core subjects and generate a comprehensive list of topics taught at each school. A description of each program is available in Appendix A. Friedmann did do this latter kind of analysis in his article and the most glaring discrepancy in terms of a frequent core course that did not appear in our analysis is economics. This is in part because economics courses are addressed in three areas - sociospatial processes, area of concentration, and economic analysis, which in our list is treated as a methods course. Even if these three economic categories are combined, they are core requirements in only 18% of the schools. With the exception of quantitative methods, the general trend above is reflected in the core topics at UBC, where history and theory, studios, and legal context form the heart of the core curriculum.

Figure 4.2.2 Topics Covered in Core Courses





Frequent Concentrations Offered and Subject Coverage in Common Areas of Concentrations

Two aspects of concentration areas were examined -- the frequency of key topics in schools concentration offerings and course coverage based on Friedmanns list of common areas of concentration (refer to Table 4.2.1), to which design/site planning was added and redevelopment was renamed as urban development.

By taking the areas of concentration offered by the schools and lumping them into broader categories, based again on Friedmanns subject categories where applicable (Table 4.2.4), an overview of the frequency of concentrations or streams is achieved. This is shown graphically in Figure 4.2.3 (bottom bar) along with the degree of explicit coverage for those topics assessed (top bar). The most commonly available concentration is the environmental field at 56%, though it should be noted that UCLA has two separate concentrations under this category. This is followed by housing at 50% and design/site planning and urban development both at 39%. A few concentrations emerged which did not fit into these categories. They were methods (17%), sustainable development (11%), policy, rural planning, tourism planning, and computer applications all at 6%, (i.e. only available at one school, 1:18). York did not specify any concentrations implying that it was to be defined in each individual program of study and listing almost 40 areas of faculty interest that could support a student interest. Several other schools (such as Cornell, Calgary, McGill, and Washington) suggested some concentrations that were available, but did not seem to restrict the subjects that a student could choose as their area of focus, or require that one be chosen.

The degree of explicit course coverage of the major areas of concentration -- schools receiving a 1.1, 1, or 2 for each subject -- was assessed. Figure 4.2.3 shows the results as the top bar. Environment and land use are both explicitly covered at 100% of the schools. Most of the topics are covered by a majority of schools. UBC explicitly covers all of these concentration areas in its courses, which would allow a student to gain exposure to many of the interrelated subareas of planning. It is also clear that you cannot even get exposure to, much less full coverage of, all of these areas at every school, although they are obviously all key areas in the field of planning.

Figure 4.2.3 Area of Concentration and Subject Coverage in Courses

Table 4.2.4 Concentrations Available at Sample Schools

Methods Courses

General methods, based on Friedmanns classifications, are presented in Figure 4.2.4 as the percentage explicitly referred to in the course descriptions.

Figure 4.2.4 Explicit Course Coverage of Methods Topics

With 78% of programs offering a full course in GIS and Spatial Analysis and 83% of programs offering some explicit coverage of program and project evaluation, UBC is somewhat under par in these two areas. UBC is among the 44% of programs offering a full course in negotiation and mediation, addressing an area that many programs lack.

The sixteen quantitative methods topics shown in Figure 4.2.5 were derived from the aforementioned Kaufman and Simons article. Based on their practitioner ranking of current and future importance, these sixteen topics (along with algebra and calculus) were selected as having the greatest combined current and future demand or importance. Algebra and Calculus were omitted because they are not taught in any program and could generally be considered a prerequisite to admission. The others are listed in order of importance from left (highest) to right (lowest). As is evident from the lack of correlation between the ranking and the percentage explicitly covered, current and future demand in the workforce and availability in a graduate program are not clearly related. Furthermore, most of the topics which are not addressed are in the top half of the range (e.g. more important). This is true for UBC as well.

Figure 4.2.5 Explicit Course Coverage of Quantitative Methods Topics

Overall about five of the topics are at 50% or below, including Capital Improvement Plans, Scheduling, Market Area Analysis, CAD, and Population Projection. Several others hover around 70%, while only Data Collection (89%) and Issues Analysis (94%) stand out as widely taught. UBC only explicitly addresses nine of these topics. Table 4.2.5 shows the groupings assigned to UBC for each of the topics.

Table 4.2.5 UBC Course Topic Group Designations

Conclusions
Program Structure

UBCs program structure is difficult to generalize about since the four streams have three separate course requirement structures. Overall the common core requirements are fairly minimal in comparison to other schools, (yet as mentioned under the content section they reflect the most common core courses).

The area of concentration reuqirements vary from none (proportion and content) in the international and community development streams, to five courses (13 credits) in natural resources, to eight courses with only some choice in urban spatial structure.

UBC is one of four schools with an appearantly strict academic thesis, and eight schools with a single thesis option with a fixed number of credits.

Program Content

UBC is explicit in both its mission statement and courses about five of the sociospatial processes - urbanization, political, economic, environmental , and empowerment . Although UBC makes no mention in the mission statement of cultural processes, it was apparent in the courses.

With the exception of quantitative methods, the general trend in core topics is reflected at UBC, where history and theory, studios, and legal context form the heart of the core curriculum.

UBC explicitly covers all of the concentration areas in its courses, which would allow a student to gain exposure to many of the interrelated subareas of planning.

UBC only explicitly addresses nine out of sixteen of the quantitative methods topics, and mirroring the general trend, does not necessarily cover the ones rated of highest importance.