Explore Urban Planning Courses
Discover hundreds of courses, with new courses added weekly.
Our most popular courses
Join thousands of urban planners on Planetizen Courses
Browse All Courses
How to Scope for Plan Implementation
Learn hands-on steps and procedures for creating a well-scoped and funding-ready planning study.
History of U.S. Landscape Architecture, Part 1
Kristin Faurest explores the history of the profession of landscape architecture from its origins through the 1960s, providing a vibrant global context of how humankind has shaped its landscape over the ages.
The 21st Century Comprehensive Plan
Uncover the emerging and valuable qualities of the 21st century comprehensive plan that can be used to define visions for the future, including robust community engagement, crosscutting themes, and an accountable implementation program.
Accessory Dwelling Units: Understanding America’s Newest Housing Typology
Explore the latest ADU policy developments from leading American cities, key challenges and opportunities for increasing or limiting ADU production, first-hand examples, and best practices in ADU affordability programs.
The Elements of Citymaking: Design, Policy, and Finance
Examine the theory of city-making at various scales, ranging from a development site at the smallest scale to the largest urban regions.
Right-Sizing Zoning for Better Outcomes
Using elements of the built environment that contribute to a community’s unique sense of place and examples from across the United States, this course explores how to realign zoning with the goals and policies adopted in community plans.
How Zoning Shapes Cities, Communities, and Regions
A better understanding of the basic components of zoning, history and evolution of zoning codes, economic and political goals of plan implementation, and impacts on housing prices and production can inform improved planning outcomes.
History of City Planning 4: Planning in the Postmodern Age (1980-Today)
Survey the key economic, environmental, sociopolitical, and technological shifts responsible for the evolution of city planning from 1980 to contemporary times. Assess historical urban planning movements through a critical lens, as course instructor Jason Luger discusses the relevance of past successes and failures for cities today.
History of City Planning 5: The City of Tomorrow
Learn why city planning is crucial to the urban future and why the success of future cities will depend on the extent to which they are sustainable, equitable, and how they use technology to serve citizens. Evaluate the key challenges facing cities in the future and, importantly, potential solutions for those challenges.
Hand Drawing Master Plans
This course provides an introduction to urban design sketching by teaching how to draw urban design sketches and master plans using a mix of colored and black ink. These drawing techniques can be used to create plans that are detailed and expressive enough to use both in academic and professional presentations.
Virtual Reality for Planners 1: Introduction
Virtual reality presents urban planners with a unique tool to create immersive virtual experiences that can inform visioning processes, design decision-making, and community engagement. Learn about the evolution of virtual reality technology, its key vocabulary and logistics, the benefits of virtual reality over traditional media, and what the future of public engagement may hold.
Virtual Reality for Planners 2: Modeling in SketchUp
This course provides a step-by-step SketchUp tutorial and teaches users how to create content appropriate for a virtual reality environment. Viewers will learn how to optimize the performance of their software and ensure success in the next steps of the process, including final model export to Unity.
Virtual Reality for Planners 3: Working with Unity
This course provides a high-level overview of the process involved in creating a virtual reality application and teaches viewers how to assemble a virtual reality application from scratch using Unity how to make the process as successful as possible.
Virtual Reality for Planners 4: Refining the End User Experience
Creating a VR experience is one thing, but managing its use at public events and integrating it into the urban design workflow is an extra, separate step. This course considers the bigger picture and covers a few ways to fine-tune the user’s experience for maximum success.
History of City Planning 2: Modern Ideas of City Planning (1900-1939)
Explore the development of the city and city planning from 1900 to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Learn how the birth of city planning as a formal practice shaped the cities that defined the century.
History of City Planning 3: Midcentury Modern (1940-1979)
Discover the impact of World War II and the Cold War in shaping city planning practices and how the tragic destruction and loss of life in World War II somehow created opportunities for planners to test new ideas.
Transportation Planning: Making Transportation Plans—Rationality and Politics
This course explains the major forms of planning applicable to transportation, including rational comprehensive planning, strategic planning, policy analysis, incremental planning, advocacy planning, and communicative planning.
Introduction to Planning: The Comprehensive Plan
In this course we will discuss the comprehensive plan, sometimes called a “master plan” or a “general plan.”
Introduction to Planning: Implementation of the Plan
This course provides an overview of implementation strategies for a Comprehensive Plan and examines how those strategies fit together.
Introduction to Planning: Zoning as an Implementation Tool
This course discusses the Zoning Ordinance - its structure, its relationship to the plan and the sometimes confusing procedures through which it is modified and varied.
Start Learning with Planetizen Courses
Choose from affordable subscription options to access hundreds of online courses today.
Try Free Courses