Expert: John Henry Architect - 1/29/2009

Question
QUESTION: hello sir

I m someone who joy planning , doing strategies , design , create , development & future vision is the motive for his motion , I m an engineer , have good business knowledge in many business issues like ( international business , economy , business management , marketing)

also I m practice some arts like (writing - photographing - music)

I like anything let me create,develop,plan,solve complicated problem

1- is urban planning may right for me ?

2- I had bachelor degree in engineer , whats your opinion for doing MASTER in Urban planning , city planning ?

3- I afraid from two cases in that career , firstly I haven't the talent of arts(drawing) I can draw sketches or graphical or engineering drawing is that able , secondly the narrow of finding a position as this rarely career ?

wish to hear from you soon
thanks

ANSWER: Hello AJ,

Urban Planning has some technical and mathematical components but it is largely about social issues, government bureaucracy, codes, and physical design.
Most city planners have to work with Master Plans, growth scenarios, zoning, density issues, transit, public hearings, etc.
If you are in a private design firm, you interact with the public officials and usually work on large scale projects.  A sub-category of this profession is Urban Design, which for me at least, is the most creative aspect as you actually design to scale New Towns, revise/extend existing urban plans, draw actual streetscapes, work out traffic patterns and street layouts, and establish architectural imagery.  You may also write criteria for the built environment in terms of heights, materials, setbacks, etc.

Your skill set may be applied to this field very well. Your business and markteting background could push you to executive positions and away from the design aspects, so you have to be sure of your direction and goals.

Your credts from the engineering degree will carry over to some extent but you will have to take many more courses to qualify for a Master in Urban Planning.  Illinois Institute of Technology has a very good program to investigate and study the course syllabus.  MIT and Harvard also have top courses in this field.

You will have to develop some sketching ability, but that does not mean you have to be Rembrandt, only that you can depict space in two and three dimensions and the courses you will take will assist you.  Urban Design has been championed of late by the New Urbanists and there has been a new awareness of our built environment with improvements suggested by many theoreticians and practitioners.  Quite a few New Towns have been built in the last 15 years and I see this trend continuing, so I believe there will be a stong market for this profession here in the U.S. and abroad in many countries for years to come.

Please also see our own website with our personal approach to Urben Design: http://www.eurodesignvip.com/

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QUESTION: thank you

but I observed that most of select urban planning was civil engineers , ( why that ?)

also I had electronics & communication engineer , I interact with diagrams , also I learned in the college engineer draw (plan , sight view , elevation) have good knowledge about solid Geo  , is that fit ?  

Answer
In this country civil engineers are mostly planners who have degrees from that type of program.
Civil engeineers in these positions are more common in other countries.  Civil engineers in city or county departments are separate from urban planners.

Diagrams and 3D visualization tools are good skills to bring to urban planning, yes.