From Manhattan’s sky-high grid to the tangled sprawl of Los Angeles, urban and regional planners play a key role in making sure cities become more connected communities rather than concrete jungles. Urban and regional planners develop plans for how land will be used, and oversee complex projects that help accommodate population growth while retaining—or revitalizing— functional communities. The zoning policies they administer have an impact not just on historic buildings, but also on the environment, housing, transportation, and more. Using statistical techniques, field investigations, and technology, urban and regional planners gather and analyze data to understand the current and future needs of their local area. They develop plans to address the needs they uncover… from planning new parks and schools to meet anticipated growth, or sheltering the homeless, to making changes that might attract business development. Urban and regional planners present their project proposals to communities, officials, and planning commissions. Their recommendations help guide decision makers to consider all the factors involved in a new project. Most urban and regional planners work for local government. They may work evenings or weekends to attend meetings with neighborhood groups, and frequently leave the office to inspect proposed development sites. Urban and regional planners need a master’s degree from an accredited planning program to qualify for most positions.
What they do:
Compile data from various sources, such as maps, reports, and field and file investigations, for use by city planner in making planning studies.
On the job, you would:
Participate in and support team planning efforts.
Prepare reports, using statistics, charts, and graphs, to illustrate planning studies in areas such as population, land use, or zoning.
Research, compile, analyze and organize information from maps, reports, investigations, and books for use in reports and special projects.
Arts and Humanities
English language
Safety and Government
law and government
public safety and security
Business
customer service
management
Math and Science
geography
Basic Skills
reading work related information
listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
Problem Solving
noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it
People and Technology Systems
thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it
Verbal
communicate by speaking
listen and understand what people say
Ideas and Logic
notice when problems happen
use rules to solve problems
People interested in this work like activities that include data, detail, and regular routines.
They do well at jobs that need:
Attention to Detail
Integrity
Dependability
Cooperation
Analytical Thinking
Self Control
You might use software like this on the job:
Map creation software
ESRI ArcGIS software
Geographic information system GIS software
Data base user interface and query software
dBASE
Microsoft Access
Spreadsheet software
Microsoft Excel
master's degree or bachelor's degree usually needed
Get started on your career:
New job opportunities are less likely in the future.
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