Urban Planning Certificate of Achievement

Program Description

The Urban Planning Certificate is designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to confront the pressing challenges of today's urbanized world. This program addresses the growing demand for skilled urban planners who can navigate complex issues such as climate change, urban sprawl, and social inequities. Our curriculum merges theoretical insights with practical application, and focuses on sustainable, eco-friendly, and people-centered urban planning and design principles.

The pathway below represents an efficient and effective course taking sequence for this program.  Individual circumstances might require some changes to this pathway.  It is always recommended that you meet with an academic counselor to develop a personalized educational plan.

Division

Science

Department

Architecture & Environmental Design

Career and Academic Pathway (CAP)

Program Learning Outcomes

  1. Develop urban plans that reflect an integrated approach to sustainability and environmental stewardship.

  2. Apply people-centered design principles to create inclusive and equitable urban spaces.

  3. Utilize Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and methods to formulate adaptable urban planning solutions.

  4. Evaluate urban planning practices within both global and local contexts, applying best practices appropriately.

  5. Demonstrate professional readiness through the development of a comprehensive portfolio and engagement with the urban planning community.

Program Map

GE General Education
O Available Online
Program Requirement
P Program Prerequisites

Term 1

9 units
ARCH 104 - The Built Environment: Culture, Profession, and Urbanization

This course surveys the built environment throughout history and across different cultures and geographies worldwide. Emphasis is on the role of architecture, and allied disciplines such as urban design and planning, in enabling colonial expansion and domination of non-western cultures. This historical survey ends with an assessment and understanding of contemporary architectural practice, along with licensing pathways and academic and professional trajectories.  

Course Details:

ARCH 107 - Urban Planning: Shaping Communities through Design
This comprehensive course describes how urban planning and design influence community development. Students will explore essential concepts such as land use, zoning, and environmental sustainability, learning how effective design contributes to creating livable, resilient, and inclusive communities. The course combines lectures, case studies, and hands-on projects, focusing on innovative strategies to address contemporary urban challenges, notably climate change and social equity. Students will gain insights into the transformative role of design in urban planning and will acquire skills to positively impact sustainable and people-centered community development.

Course Details:

  1. Departmental Recommendation: ENGL C1000
  2. Departmental Recommendation: ENGL C1000H
GEOG 130 or GIS 130

How do corporations know where to locate retail stores and restaurants?  How do epidemiologists know how to confront epidemics, pandemics, and related disease outbreaks?  How does your utility provider know the location of power outages and water leaks?  How do demographers create maps based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, gender, religious affiliation, and other population characteristics?  The answers to these questions and more are found within Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), including the history of automated mapping. It includes a brief introduction to basic cartographic principles, including map scales, coordinate systems and map projections. GIS hardware and software are implemented, as are various applications of GIS technology used in environmental science, business and government.  Using automatic mapping software like ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap, and Story Maps, you will create maps that address a variety of local to global issues.  (This course is also offered as GIS 130)

Course Details:

  1. Departmental Recommendation: ENGL C1000
  2. Departmental Recommendation: ENGL C1000H
  3. Departmental Recommendation: ECON 208
  4. Departmental Recommendation: STAT C1000
  5. Departmental Recommendation: STAT C1000H
  6. Departmental Recommendation: PSYC 105
OR

How do corporations know where to locate retail stores and restaurants?  How do epidemiologists know how to confront epidemics, pandemics, and related disease outbreaks?  How does your utility provider know the location of power outages and water leaks?  How do demographers create maps based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, gender, religious affiliation, and other population characteristics?  The answers to these questions and more are found within Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), including the history of automated mapping. It includes a brief introduction to basic cartographic principles, including map scales, coordinate systems and map projections. GIS hardware and software are implemented, as are various applications of GIS technology used in environmental science, business and government.  Using automatic mapping software like ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap, and Story Maps, you will create maps that address a variety of local to global issues.  (This course is also offered as GEOG 130)

Course Details:

  1. Departmental Recommendation: ENGL C1000
  2. Departmental Recommendation: ENGL C1000H
  3. Departmental Recommendation: ECON 208
  4. Departmental Recommendation: STAT C1000
  5. Departmental Recommendation: STAT C1000H
  6. Departmental Recommendation: PSYC 105
  • Transfers to CSU

    • Term 2

    9 units
    ARCH 105 - Design Theories, Methods, and Visualizations

    This course introduces students to the process of architectural design, exploring the built environment through different media and activities that address distinct design approaches. It includes studies of various representation techniques, media, and processes to express different design philosophies, and an introduction to the tools, techniques, and methods relevant to the design process. The course introduces students to the various scales of architectural intervention, from the dimensions of the human body all the way to the territory of the city.

    Course Details:

    ARCH 106 - Sustainability in the Built Environment

    This course provides an interdisciplinary overview of sustainability theory and practice, focusing on their expression in the built environment from a humanities perspective. Drawing from philosophy, history, literature, aesthetics, religion, and cultural studies, this course examines how sustainability principles have guided the built environment throughout history and how different cultures across eras, geographies, and climatic regions have interpreted and implemented these strategies. Students will explore how sustainability is measured, valued, and understood by both Western and non-Western societies, including Indigenous cultures, through philosophical, ethical, and cultural lenses. Key topics include energy, infrastructure, environmental economics and policy, ethics, and cultural history.

    Course Details:

    1. Departmental Recommendation: ENGL C1000
    2. Departmental Recommendation: ENGL C1000H
    GIS 135 - Spatial Analysis with GIS

    Cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), web GIS, and automated mapping are becoming increasingly important within spatial analysis. This course is an introduction to spatial analysis with fundamental concepts and analytical procedures used to simplify complex spatial modeling. Specific methods covered include spatial queries, buffering, overlay, interpolation, network analysis, surface analysis, and spatial autocorrelation. Spatial analysis tools and services have the capacity to highlight and address long-standing issues of economic, environmental, racial, and social justice, as well as environmental sustainability.

    Course Details:

    1. Prerequisite: GEOG 130
    2. Prerequisite: GIS 130