Master of City Planning

At Berkeley, you’ll join a department committed to improving the equity, economy and environment of neighborhoods, communities, cities, and metropolitan regions. The department’s teaching and research is grounded in a dedication to understanding the historical and theoretical underpinnings of planning governance and practice. We aim to design and create cities, infrastructure, and public services that are sustainable, affordable, enjoyable, and accessible to all.

As a Berkeley MCP student, you’ll gain:

Berkeley’s MCP combines a common core curriculum with the opportunity to specialize in one or more of the following concentration areas:

The Department of City & Regional Planning offers a rich intellectual community rooted in the dynamic contexts of UC Berkeley, the Bay Area, and California. As a UC Berkeley graduate student, you will be studying at the number one public university, alongside the brightest and most passionate students from around the world. UC Berkeley’s environment is characterized by a deep commitment to critical inquiry, collaborative discovery, and innovation. 

The Department of City & Regional Planning, founded in 1948, joined with the Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture to form the College of Environmental Design in 1959. Berkeley was the first university to bring together these disciplines into a single college, leading the way toward an integrated approach to analyzing, understanding, and designing our built environment. The college emphasizes environmental design as a profoundly ethical practice, inseparable from social, political, economic, and cultural contexts and co-produced through dynamic engagements with diverse communities.

In Berkeley’s MCP program, you’ll have the opportunity to study with world-class faculty who are experts in a range of disciplines, including city planning, public policy, anthropology, geography, physics, and architecture. 

The MCP curriculum balances the need to develop core planning knowledge and skills (the core), expertise in a specific domain of planning (the concentrations), and the flexibility to use elective credits to either a) deepen expertise in a specific domain, b) broaden knowledge of a wider range of planning courses by studying the intersections between environmental planning, housing, land use, and transportation, c) deepen methodological skills in GIS, data science, design, or qualitative and participatory methods, or d) take classes across UC Berkeley’s dynamic campus.

The MCP is a two-year, in-residence program. To earn the MCP degree, you must complete:

You have the choice of four concentrations designed to support inquiry and expertise in a specific planning domain. For more information on each of the concentrations as well as the specific course offerings.

You can expand your course of study by earning a concurrent degree with your MCP. We offer the following concurrent degrees: Master of Architecture, Master of Landscape Architecture, Master of Public Health, Master of Science in Transportation Engineering, Juris Doctor (law).

College of Environmental Design Students of Color (CEDSOC) aims to develop and expand the academic and social support, mentorship, career networking, and advocacy efforts for students of color and other underrepresented students. 

The Planning Students Association (PSA) supports the MCP program professionally through events such as alumni mixers, socially through trips and other events, and through student advocacy.

TRANSOC supports the well-being and success of transportation graduate students from related disciplines across the UC Berkeley campus. Its mission is to empower students with abundant academic, social, and professional resources and connect current students with a powerful global network of alums.

MCP students often complete a three-month internship at a government agency, nonprofit, or private firm, or other planning-related organization, in the summer after the first year.

These internships provide valuable professional development experiences, and often pave the way for future careers. Our graduates go on to careers in many different sectors and roles, including public agencies (at the local, regional, state and federal level), nonprofits and community organizations, consulting firms, research institutions and universities, and elected officials. Common focus areas include sustainable transportation and land use, housing, economic development, urban health and social policy, environmental sustainability, global urbanization and poverty, and urban design for livable places. 

We are committed to recruiting students of outstanding achievement and potential, regardless of ability to pay.

We recommend you start the application process as soon as possible. As a prospective graduate student, you’ll submit your application through UC Berkeley’s Graduate Division. You’ll find lots of useful information on the Graduate Division website, including application instructions and information about funding your education.

Only online applications (including letters of recommendation) are accepted. All documents, regardless of language of instruction, must be translated into the English language. Transcripts, diplomas, and certificates should be provided in the original language of instruction AND in English. Transcripts must show your full name, degree  conferral date, and degree.