Interdisciplinary
Ph.D. Program in Urban Design and Planning
Program Website
The Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Urban Design and Planning, launched in 1967, has evolved into a dynamic interdisciplinary Ph.D. program centered in the Department of Urban Design and Planning, and draws on the broad intellectual resources of the University of Washington, and on the laboratory provided by the Seattle metropolitan region and the Pacific Northwest. The intellectual focus of the Ph.D. program is unique in bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives from the social and natural sciences, and applying them to the formation and evaluation of urban and environmental designs, plans, and policies.
- It seeks to explore interactions among built urban form: urban markets for real estate, labor, public services, and infrastructure; urban social and political institutions and processes; and urban ecological patterns and processes. Study of these interactions draws on the disciplines of economics, geography, history, sociology, political science, and ecology, among others.
- It seeks to explore ways of applying the interdisciplinary understanding of these interactions by informing the development and evaluation of designs, plans, and policies related to land use, housing, transportation and other infrastructure, and the environment. These applications draw on the fields of urban planning, urban design, landscape architecture, forest resources, policy analysis, and civil engineering.
- It seeks to employ research methods and approaches that promote advancement of theory and the empirical testing of theory in order to make contributions to the advancement of scholarship and practice in the areas of urban and environmental design, planning, and policy. Research methods range from qualitative to quantitative techniques, including such techniques as GIS and simulation modeling.