The Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) is a department within the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT. It is comprised of four specialization areas (also referred to as Program Groups): City Design and Development; Environmental Policy and Planning; Housing, Community and Economic Development; and the International Development Group. There are also three cross-cutting areas of study: Transportation Planning and Policy, Urban Information Systems (UIS), and Regional Planning.
Since its inception in 1933, the Department of Urban Studies and Planning has consistently remained one of the top planning schools in the country. Now totaling close to 60 teaching faculty members (more than half of whom are full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty), it has the largest planning faculty in the United States.
The Department is organized around the following core questions of engagement and progressive change: "Can we make a difference in the world? Can we design better cities? Can we help places grow more sustainably? Can we help communities thrive? Can we help advance equitable world development?"Our Mission Statement is as follows:
We are committed to positive social change. Our moral vision is translated into professional education in distinct ways:
- We believe in the abilities of urban and regional institutions to steadily improve the quality of life of citizens.
- We emphasize democratic decision-making involving both public and private actors, and acknowledge the necessity of government leadership to ensure greater social and economic equality.
- We foster a positive approach to technological innovation as a major force of social change.
- We trust that the built environment can meet the needs of diverse populations and serve as a source of meaning in their daily lives.
Students at DUSP find a unique program reflected in the Department's goals and objectives:
- The education of practitioners in various fields of planning practice. The emphasis is not only on the breadth of planning skills, but also a specialized competence in one or more of the four areas of specialization.
- An expanding international focus. Though New England is the focus of much student work, programs are not limited geographically. A number of design studios and research projects take students abroad to work with faculty on planning issues in other countries. International students often return to their communities of origin to practice.
- The integration of MIT's vast technological resources into planning practice and education.
- The presence of practitioners as well as scholars among the faculty.
- The education of students for practice in the public, private, and nonprofit arenas. DUSP graduates go on to work in each of these sectors in roughly equal proportions.
- An increasing diversity of faculty and students. Long a goal of both the Department and MIT, strengthening of diversity continues despite the recent national assault on affirmative action. The Department also has strong connections to other departments and programs at MIT through dual degree programs, joint appointments of faculty, and joint listings of courses, as well as collaboration on research projects and interdisciplinary initiatives.
In 2009, The Planetizen Guide to Graduate Urban Planning Programs once again ranked DUSP #1 in the U.S. and Canada.
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