Are you in urban planning?

[Anonymous]

If so, I would love to chat with you! I am currently in a design field with no experience in urban planning. However, I have been interested in it for awhile. I see that GW and Georgetown both have professional credit courses. Is this worth it? And if so, what is the job market like in urban planning? Is there something part time in the field? I am not too worried about the actual salary but more worried if there is actual jobs (preferably part time) in the DC area.

[Anonymous]

I have a masters degree in urban planning and worked in local gov't for 10 years before becoming a SAHM. I wanted to switch to part-time after my child was born, but the office environment at that time was not supportive of part-timers - so I decided to just stay home. I would love to find a planning job that would allow me work part-time, but I haven't found any part-time positions in nearly a decade of watching job listings.

Unfortunately, planning is a field that often requires attending a lot of evening board meetings and there is a culture of putting in long hours, similar to the legal field.

[Anonymous]

My dad is an urban planner. It's a dying field, sad to say. Unless your interest is in helping real estate developers avoid regulations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad is an urban planner. It's a dying field, sad to say. Unless your interest is in helping real estate developers avoid regulations.

Really? This surprises me. there is a big focus on the built environment these days and with the days of big malls behind us people are interested in mixed use spaces etc. some profession has to help with that and I would think urban planners would play a role.

[Anonymous]

I am an urban planner and I work for an international development agency.

[Anonymous]

I'm the pp who left the field to SAHM. In my opinion, most local government planners are employed as plan reviewers who make sure that designs submitted by private developers meet minimum code requirements. The planners can reject submissions that don't meet code requirements, and they can make recommendations, but don't have authority to design projects unless they are publicly owned .

The heyday of the planning profession was in the mid-20th century. Now, if you want to have a real impact, it's probably better to work in the private sector or run for elected office where you'll have more of a Voice.

[Anonymous]

CUA has a Masters Program too.

There are tons of Planning jobs in the region, between the Federal, State and local governments, private firms and developers and transportation companies.

Part time jobs might be tougher - I have never heard of one, though some of the smaller jurisdictions might have the opportunity.

I strongly disagree that it is a dying profession. On the YIPPS listserve, there are jobs announced almost every day, both in the region and nationally.