Why You Should Consider a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning

Urban planning is one of the most important components of sustainable development of cities. It deals with the whole development of a town or locality. The first stage is planning and using the budget as efficiently as possible. Then comes the structured decision-making process of balancing out the need for more infrastructure with avoiding becoming a burden on the environment. Through proper urban planning, different sectors in the locality come together as a whole. This includes establishing a united front between the general public and citizens, together with the private sector and local governments.

Urban planning, however, doesn’t work only by itself. For the best results, it needs the cooperation of all the brains behind it. This could be you, but to work in this field you would need a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning. While taking up a master’s degree may seem daunting for you right now, do remember that it’s doable. There are many steps that can be taken to manage it alongside your job, if needed. You can start by collecting books to study for the GRE, or your exam. This can help you secure a slot in the master’s program. That’s when the real journey begins. After all these efforts, you’re guaranteed to reap the benefits of your hard work going forward.

If you’re still on the hunt for the best master’s degree program to take up, here are some great reasons why urban planning is a good idea:

  1. It’s An Investment in Your Future

Taking up a master’s degree in itself is already an investment in your future. But you can take this investment further by studying urban planning. Not only are you investing in yourself right now, but by choosing urban planning you’re helping the society around you improve. This means being part of a group of professionals responsible for ensuring the future of generations.

When you positively help out in urban planning through the skills and knowledge that you acquire in your master’s degree, you will come to  value the contribution that professional training can make. Investing in your future doesn’t only mean that your own life improves through an increase in your financial capacity, but also that those who come after you will live a much better life through the developed society that you helped create.

  1. It Allows You To Contribute Constructively To Society

When you’re working in the field of economics and governance, your job is to bring about constructive changes for the improvement of the society to which you belong. Whether as a leader or as any member of a committee or organization, you’ve got a voice. But this shouldn’t be just another opinion. Instead, it should be one that contains useful information for the betterment of society.

Here are some ways that your master’s degree in urban planning enables you to have this kind of drive:

  • It helps you improve your impact in society. Cities face many challenges. It shouldn’t be expected that positive changes will happen and take effect all at once. However, through your knowledge you can contribute towards prioritizing what matters first and what should be moved for later. That way, efforts are not going to be wasted.
  • It prevents redundancy in government efforts. Through the knowledge that you’ve gained in your master’s degree, you can disseminate better information for changes that have to be addressed. You need not just sit around following redundant government efforts that serve a minimal purpose for improvement.
  • It helps you present a framework for growth. Just as is the case with any project, in urban planning a framework is also needed. This helps ensure that all efforts for development are well planned and thought out carefully.
  1. It Increases Your Chances In The Job Market

Urban planning experts are in high demand in every locality for the very reason that they know how best to keep a society going. Their job doesn’t become redundant, as it’s always needed. You may get a job with your undergraduate degree but you can increase this chance to a higher level by completing a master’s degree. The efforts and experience that you gather in your two-year master’s program won’t go unnoticed. This, in fact, gives you an edge over others.

When you’re up against thousands of other applicants for a job, your master’s degree in urban planning is what’s going to set you apart from everyone else.

Urban Planning

  1. It Enables You To Turn Your City Into A Well Prepared One

Should any economic or political challenge shake your locality tomorrow, can you say with confidence that the government has it all taken care of? Perhaps not. With a master’s degree, you can become an asset by being able to turn your city into a well prepared one. With the reliable information that you learned and gathered in school, you can make connections regarding both short-term and long-term visions for your local community.

  1. It Gives You More Than Just The Minimum Qualifications

When you’re working in very important sectors of society, you’ll want to be able to show and prove that what you know and have on your mind is more than just the minimum set of requirements. Never settle for only the minimum. With a master’s degree in urban planning, you will certainly exceed the minimum standards. This means that even during the application process, you’re already seen as an asset to the team that you’re applying for.

In urban planning, it’s also crucial that the people hired are credible. You can’t join society’s leadership team when credibility is something that you can’t prove. Because a master’s degree inherently means that you’ve spent so much more time studying and learning in-depth what urban planning entails, you also become a much more trustworthy member of your team.

  1. It Gives You Stronger And Better Connections

Completing a master’s degree is an entirely different experience from your undergraduate studies. In college, you’re young and inexperienced. During your master’s degree, you’re in a team of professionals and young adults. You’ve already got a bachelor’s degree behind you. For others, they may even have prior work experience. This means that while completing your master’s degree, you’re also able to build better connections with important people in society.

For instance, you may now know other professionals working in the same field. Your professors are naturally experts in urban planning. When you start working, you may find that one way or another, the connections you’ve formed in two years are going to come in handy. 

Conclusion

Formal education in urban planning involves first obtaining a bachelor’s degree, and then a master’s degree followed by a doctorate. Now that you’ve reached the master’s degree level, you might want to consider acquiring a master’s degree in urban planning. When you’re passionate about your society, economic development, politics, and governance, this is a field that’s going to be beneficial for you. Through your master’s degree in urban planning, you can work at becoming a better asset for the community at large.