Big demand for urban planning graduates

By Michelle Boulton

Students in the Regional and Urban Development program can take a two-week Geography field course on architecture, urban design and planning in Prague, Czech Republic, each spring. Photo courtesy of RUD program.

Most students at the U of S are there to prepare for their own futures – but those in the University’s Regional and Urban Development (RUD) program are planning a future for all of us. And it appears that future is bright – the University can’t graduate the RUD students fast enough.

“Our graduates are being snapped away,” says Avi Akkerman, professor of geography and chair of the RUD program from 1991 to 2001. “We can’t actually supply as many graduates as the market demands. This is very good news. The bad news is that most of these graduates are going out of province.”

One of the oldest planning programs in Canada, RUD was established in 1968 by Howard Richards, who founded the U of S Department of Geography in 1960, the late John McConnell, also from the Department of Geography, and Jack Stabler, former head of Agricultural Economics, to fill a need in Western Canada, says Akkerman. That need is growing.

“All we have to do is to walk through our cities, particularly the larger cities, and see the increasing transportation issues and urban sprawl to recognize that there is a problem with the livable environment,” explains Akkerman. “It’s increasingly more difficult to raise children in inner cities, so these areas are being abandoned, creating a black hole in the middle of our major metropolitan areas.”

Akkerman describes this trend as ex-urbanization – cities are losing the most affluent part of their population because those who can afford it leave and the cities become, per capita, poorer.

“Strategies for bringing people back into the inner cities and retaining the vitality of our cities are the problems planners, together with other professionals, have to tackle,” he says.

The planning profession is important, not just for large centres, but also for medium and smaller centres asserts Political Studies Associate Professor Joe Garcea, current acting chair of the RUD program.

“If you are a community facing difficult times and challenges, planners can help you stall or even reverse these trends by finding creative initiatives to improve the quality of life and induce people to stay and others to move in to the community. Alternatively, planners can help a community cope with fewer people and less resources.”

RUD aims to prepare students to face these daunting and diverse tasks, by offering a dynamic interdisciplinary program. Housed in the Department of Geography in the College of Arts and Science, RUD is administered by a committee with representatives from geography, civil engineering, economics/agricultural economics, political studies, and sociology. Its curriculum includes courses from each of the departments involved.

Students are introduced to contemporary planning issues and their historical contexts, with a particular emphasis on Western Canada. They learn community planning practices and investigate causes, impacts, and proposed solutions to development problems. Emphasis is put on issues relating to sustainable development and energy conservation.

In Saskatchewan, most planners work in municipal or provincial government. Some are employed in the private sector by consulting firms, development companies, financial institutions and law offices. Increasingly, planners also work for non-profit organizations such as advocacy groups, housing co-operatives, heritage groups, and international development organizations.

RUD is one of nine undergraduate planning programs in Canada accredited by the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), and the only other one in Western Canada is at the University of Northern British Columbia. There are graduate programs at the Universities of Calgary, Manitoba, and B.C. – but those don’t have undergraduate components.

“Our program being an accredited undergraduate planning program gives our students an edge,” says Akkerman.

“After just four years at the U of S, they come out with not only a bachelor’s degree, but an accreditation with CIP. Universities that only offer graduate programs require students to finish an undergraduate degree and then pursue a master’s degree to obtain membership in CIP. So, the difference is four years as opposed to six years.”

Garcea and Akkerman agree that the prospect of developing a graduate component for the RUD program is appealing.

“It would be nice to see it develop a graduate program so that students who are academically inclined don’t only land a job, but can pursue a higher academic degree as well,” Akkerman says. “Right now, RUD graduates who are interested in pursuing a graduate degree either join the Department of Geography or go elsewhere.”

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