Urban Planning and Policy

Specialize in one of four industry-aligned concentrations:

Urban sustainability and resilience: Learn to respond to the impacts of climate change. Use policy and/or physical planning to address adaptation and mitigation, environmental sustainability, and disaster planning.

Urban analytics: Analyze data to solve urban problems equitably. You’ll leverage big data, tech, and policy to improve public well-being, focusing on issues including climate change, gentrification, and transportation.

Urban development policy and planning: Learn to create policies and programs to tackle issues like housing, economic development, transportation planning and policy, and community development. Focus your studies on challenges like affordable housing and immigration policy.

Urban design and physical planning: Focus on the architectural aspects of urban planning and the design of vibrant, accessible, equitable, and sustainable urban spaces. Choose from tracks in urban design and real estate, physical planning and sustainable urbanism, and urban experience design.

• Engage in impact-focused studies, grounded in real-world practice, and gain hands-on experience addressing pressing urban challenges.
• Learn from leaders and experts who influence climate progress, public health, and sustainable development.
• Earn your degree with full- or part-time options in Boston with ties to the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the School of Architecture.
• Participate in an optional, paid co-op or research exchange.
• Join alumni who are frontline leaders shaping national policy and driving meaningful change.
• Get right to work. Our graduates have a 94.4% employment rate within a year of graduation—working in government, nonprofits, civil rights and advocacy groups, financial institutions, engineering firms, and more.

Give your career a head start before you graduate. You can gain hands-on experience addressing pressing urban challenges through co-ops, internships, and community-led projects.

Northeastern’s top-rated co-op program lets you gain up to six months of paid experience, positioning you for success and providing networking opportunities you can leverage throughout your career.

Recent students have found co-op employment at leading local organizations, including the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, and the Boston Housing Authority.

Gain unparalleled access to leading research centers, including:

Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy: Housed in Northeastern’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, the Dukakis Center produces state-of-the-art applied research. It is instrumental in implementing effective policies and practices to achieve social justice.

Social Impact Lab: Dedicated to experimental philanthropy education, the Social Impact Lab helps students learn about social challenges, vulnerable communities, and ways to engage in ethical and effective social change practice.

Boston Area Research Initiative: This partnership among Northeastern, Harvard, and the City of Boston promotes original research to advance urban scholarship and improve public policy and practice.

• Application

• Application fee

• Personal statement

• Unofficial transcripts from all institutions attended

  • The Foreign Credential Evaluation (FCE) is a required assessment of all transcripts and documents from non-U.S. accredited post-secondary education institutions. (Review the FCE requirements by country.)

• Three letters of recommendation 

• Resumé

• English proficiency for international applicants