Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP)

Planning is the professional discipline that seeks to influence how neighborhoods, cities, and regions develop.

Planners bring together knowledge and expertise from sociology, engineering, law, architecture, social work, biology, landscape architecture, urban design, and other disciplines to shape cities and regions.

The Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) degree is designed to produce professionals able to think across fields of expertise to see and act upon the links among environmental systems, land use and transportation systems, infrastructure development, and housing and community development. The program equips graduates with the technical and analytical skills needed to think strategically about developing and implementing plans at the neighborhood, city, or regional level.

As a planner, you can work for positive change by using your skills to help build cities, tackle urban sprawl, upgrade housing, protect the environment, design regional institutions, and promote economic development.

What Our Graduates Do

Planners work for government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private consulting firms. Urban and regional planners work to improve communities by preserving and enhancing quality-of-life, protecting the natural-built environment, promoting equity and equality, improving services to all the communities that make up cities and regions, and promoting efficient and sustainable growth and development.

Sample Job Titles + Organizations

Planner, Saint Paul Planning and Economic Development Department
Senior adviser for livable communities, Office of Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Director, Payne Avenue Mainstreet, St. Paul, Minnesota
Developer, The Lander Group, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Planner, Emeryville, California
Assistant city manager, Temple, Texas
Planner, Auburn, Washington

Learn More About

Student Cynthia Yuen explains why she chose MURP.

Contact Admissions

Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
University of Minnesota
225 Humphrey Center
301 19th Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55455

612-624-3800
hhhadmit@umn.edu