For Current MUP Students (2026)

Comprehensive Requirements

Our 2-year program provides a solid foundation in theory and practical skills. And it offers the flexibility to design a concentration around your needs. The curriculum includes five major components totaling 64 credit hours:

• Core Courses: 6 required classes that review fundamental knowledge, skills, and values for urban planning
• Flexible Concentrations: specialized courses in one or more selected concentrations
• Electives: from the department and across the university
• Recommended Internship: real-world planning and research experience
• MUP Capstone Project or Thesis: (required) in which students demonstrate professional aptitude through practical problem solving or research

Core Courses

MUP core courses teach a solid base of knowledge and skills required for effective professional planning. Students take core courses as a cohort over their first 3 semesters.

• UP 501: Planning History and Theory
• UP 503: Physical Planning
• UP 504: Urban History and Theory
• UP 505: Urban and Regional Analysis
• UP 511: Law and Planning
• UP 510: Plan Making Workshop

2-Year Projected Course Availability (PDF)

Urban Planning Courses

Flexible Concentrations and Stream

MUP students develop specialized expertise in one or more subfields. They work with their faculty advisor to design a concentration tailored to their specific interests. The MUP has 4 recommended concentrations and 1 stream that align with faculty expertise.

• Land Use & Environmental Planning (LUEP): Land use planning impacts our environment, infrastructure, and demography. It influences the ways our communities function. Students develop an understanding of the theories and ideas important to planning. They hone analytical skills for managing land use, physical development, and environmental quality. LUEP Faculty: Dustin Allred, Colleen Chiu-Shee, and Bumsoo Lee

• Transportation Planning: Transportation planners evaluate and prioritize transportation projects. And they assess the economic, social, and environmental impacts of those plans and projects. Beyond technical skills, this concentration emphasizes integrated transportation and land use planning, multi-modal transportation systems, and equitable access to opportunities in disadvantaged communities. Transportation Faculty: Lindsay Braun and Bumsoo Lee

• Community Development for Social Justice (CDSJ): Community development professionals design and implement strategies to improve quality of life. They empower people, build capacity, and generate community-based wealth and asset control. This concentration prepares practitioners for a range of local, regional, and global contexts, as well as for public and non-profit sectors. CDSJ Faculty: Lindsay Braun, Colleen Chiu-Shee, Marc Doussard, Andrew Greenlee, Faranak Miraftab, Magdalena Novoa, and Lou Turner

• Local & Regional Economic Development (LRED): Economic development planners strengthen the growth and equity of local and regional economies. They redress problems of economic distress, unemployment, and poverty. They secure the resources vital to essential public services, including affordable housing, parks, schools, and transportation infrastructure. LRED Faculty: Mary Edwards, and Marc Doussard

• Transnational Planning Stream: The Transnational Planning Stream is a group of courses and learning opportunities that supplement the MUP concentrations. It works with, rather than in lieu of, other planning subfields. The stream promotes critical thinking and analytical skills related to the history of international development planning, globalization, and the ethics and politics of contemporary development. Transnational Planning Faculty: Colleen Chiu-Shee, Marc Doussard, Faranak Miraftab, and Magdalena Novoa

Recommended Concentration Courses

Recommended Concentration Courses

Sample Coursework

Sample Coursework

Below is a sample of MUP courses including core, concentration, and elective classes.

Plan of Study

Each MUP student is expected to prepare a Plan of Study when they enter the program. The Plan of Study guides the student’s coursework, concentration, and capstone plan and clarifies shared expectations between the student and academic adviser.

Plan of Study Template – MUP Program (PDF)

Plan of Study Template – Dual Degree Students (PDF)

MUP Capstone Project or Thesis

MUP Capstone

The MUP capstone provides MUP students with the opportunity to apply what they have learned through their courses and internships to a specific planning problem or issue, and therefore to demonstrate their professional competence to both the faculty and potential employers. There are three pathways to satisfy the MUP capstone requirement:

• A capstone workshop exposes students to professional work under the guidance of a faculty member and client. Students work together over the course of the semester to produce a professional project or report focused on a planning problem or need.
• A capstone project is a professional project or analysis initiated by one or a small group of students for an external client. It focuses on a topic relevant to the student’s selected concentration.
• A capstone thesis may be applied or basic scholarly research conducted under the formal thesis guidelines of the department and Graduate College.

MUP Capstone Adoption Form (PDF)

MUP Capstone Exit Form (PDF)

Professional Internship

Professional Internship

MUP students are encouraged to complete a professional planning internship which consists of at least 160 hours of appropriate planning-related work (minimum of 50%-time employment for 8 weeks) at an off-campus agency under the supervision of a professional in the field.

Offer of Internship Form (PDF)

Agency Internship Evaluation Form

Student Internship Evaluation Form (PDF)

Professional Internships

Handbook

Handbook

For more information on the MUP program and policies, including core courses, concentrations, plan of study, internship, and capstone project/thesis, please refer to the MUP Program Handbook.

MUP Program Handbook 2026-2027 (PDF)

Graduate Advising

Each student works with the department academic adviser to establish a concentration area, develop a Plan of Study, and develop a capstone plan.

Graduate Advising

Cost and Funding

The university sets new tuition and fee rates each academic year. Learn more at cost.illinois.edu. Full-time for the MUP program is 16 credit hours. The department runs a merit-based financial recognition program focused on graduate students, with graduate need-based financial aid provided by the university’s Graduate College. Most MUP students are eligible to apply for available Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant, and Graduate Assistant positions that provide a stipend and a waiver of tuition and selected fees.

Cost and Funding

All MUP Forms

For a link to all forms: Master of Urban Planning Forms and Petitions

Graduation Orientation

Our orientation for incoming graduate students is designed to orient you to the department and university, to select your first courses, to help you start thinking strategically about your professional and academic identities, and to connect you to our student, faculty, staff, and the broader planning community. Orientation is typically the Thursday-Sunday before the semester starts.

Graduation Orientation

Opportunity for a Joint Degree

MUP students can pursue a joint degree with other graduate programs on campus. A joint degree program allows students to complete 2 graduate degrees with reduced total requirements. We have established joint degree guidelines for the following programs:

• Master of Architecture (MArch)
• Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)
• Master of Science in Civil Engineering (MSCE)
• Juris Doctor (JD)
• Master of Public Health (MPH)
• Master of Science in Recreation, Sport, and Tourism (MSRST)

Students may propose joint degrees with other related graduate programs on campus.

For more information

For more information on the MUP program and policies, please refer to the MUP Program Handbook:

• • MUP Program Handbook 2026-2027
  • MUP Program Handbook 2025-2026
  • MUP Program Handbook 2024-2025
  • MUP Program Handbook 2023-2024

For a link to all forms: Master of Urban Planning Forms and Petitions

Questions?

We encourage you to reach out to:

Professor Andrew Greenlee

Department of Urban and Regional Planning

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

111 Temple Buell Hall, 611 E Lorado Taft Dr, Champaign, IL 61820

E-mail: agreen4@illinois.edu

Or

Jennifer Kowalski

Department of Urban and Regional Planning

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

111 Temple Buell Hall, 611 E Lorado Taft Dr, Champaign, IL 61820

E-mail: jakowal@illinois.edu