At the heart of the two-year master's degree in planning is an integrated core curriculum giving students a solid foundation in social, economic, and public policy analysis for effective and inclusive planning. In addition to foundations and content area knowledge, planners need strong professional skills in analytics, report writing, infographics, oral presentation, and team management to function successfully in various organizational and political environments. A total of 45 semester hours of required courses include those in the core, one or two areas of concentration, and a capstone project.

Core Curriculum

• Core courses focus on institutions and social, economic, environmental, political, administrative, and legal systems that frame planning, policy analysis, and public decision-making.
• First-semester courses blend foundational knowledge in economics and statistics, with practical introductions to law, land use, and the history, theories, and practice of planning.
• Students also develop the ability to identify social goals, positive, and and normative criteria for evaluating public policies, and build their quantitative (statistics, forecasting, surveys, regional analysis) and qualitative skills for plan-making and evaluation.
• As students proceed, increasing emphasis is placed on the development of critical judgment and insight through the application of theories to planning problems and case studies.

Capstone

Students complete a major planning research project in their capstone, Sustainable Communities Lab, courses. Throughout the capstone, students will apply their knowledge and skills to a planning problem or issue in an Iowa community. This is done in tandem with the University’s Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities (IISC) which is a national model for community engagement and learning. 

Other Requirements

The following requirements must also be met in order to obtain the master's degree:

• All core, capstone, and concentration area courses must be completed with a grade of B- or better
• Students must attain an overall graduate grade point average (GPA) of 3.00 or better
• Students must complete an oral final exam. A thesis examination (oral defense) will substitute for the program's final oral exam. 

Required Curriculum

*The semester hour breakdown for students pursing a combined masters degree will differ.

Core Curriculum

Typical Schedule for Full-Time Students

Students with sufficient previous coursework may request a waiver of a core course.