Urban planners work on broad-community-wide projects, mindful of the specific need of different parts of the community. They emphasize their plan on the best use of communal land and resource for residential, commercial, revitalizing, and recreational purposes. 

Simply put, they are the professionals who shoulder the shape of future urbanization, a vast and demanding responsibility. If you are interested in the field and have what it takes to make a difference, urban planning can be an intriguing profession. Here are some helpful guides on ‘how to become an urban planner’. 

What Is an Urban Planner?

An urban planner develops and implements land-use plans to develop communities, accommodate their growth, and revitalize their living standards with different essential facilities and services. 

Urban planners design new plans and policies, identifying the best way to meet the infrastructure need of a community. They work on sustainable and economic projects befitting the need of time to improve the urbanization quality of communities, towns, and cities, giving accessibility to every kind of indispensable service and recreational activity. 

Urban planners are also responsible for revising and revitalizing the neglected part of the communities to improve their overall life quality. They conduct in-depth field research and analyze the reports to recognize the issues and needs specific to the community to develop the ideal programs/plans and alternatives to resolve them. 

Urban planners also formulate plans and policies regarding housing systems, distances of manufacturing companies from residential areas, carbon emission policies, and other commercial developments.

What Are the Roles and Responsibilities of Urban Planners? 

• Design urban spaces to meet the needs of the community.
• Revise the urban plans for the neglected parts of the community.
• Plan new housing and commercial developments.
• Conduct and analyze field investigations.
• Work on sustainable and economic development and housing plans.
• Formulate policies on housing to minimize the impact of urbanization on the environment.
• Increase the participation of communities while developing and implementing new plans or policies.
• Work on cutting the carbon emissions on community and manufacturing businesses with energy efficiency. 
• Develop drafts, revise, and recommend plans or projects.
• Collect, analyze and interpret data.
• Create procedures, guidelines, priorities, and alternatives for projects/plans.
• Evaluate plans and proposals of outside firms/agencies.
• Prepare statistical reports to provide the details about the project to the public and different departments and discuss them during meetings and presentations. 
• Strictly maintain the present time regulation and policies on the environment and infrastructure.

Qualifications Required to Be an Urban Planner

1. Future-Oriented Mindset

Planning is a future-oriented activity, so urban planners must have a future-oriented mindset. Urban planners must envision the alternatives in the existing urban context that aren’t limited to just a few years ahead but as future-proof as possible. 

The infrastructure shouldn’t be based on the revision of the physical aspects shortly; it should be seen as a foundation that aspires new ideas based around it, that's what artists do.

2. Strategic Thinking Skills

Management isn’t an easy job; urban planning that envisions physical and social alternatives for the present structure is even more challenging. As an urban planner, you should be able to make strategic plans recognizing the needs and trends, including your plans' social and environmental impacts. 

Your plans shouldn’t interfere with and damage social norms or environmental aspects; as a planner, you should be able to make strategic decision that brings accessibility and future innovations to the community level, not tear them apart. 

3. Strong Communication Skills

As an urban planner, you will collaborate with engineers, designers, architects, and other team members working with you on different projects. You need to have strong communication skills to make the team member clear about the projects and relay the progress and instruction in an efficient communication chain. 

Also, as a project leader, you might be required to give presentations on the community level or interviews in different modes of media or one-on-one with someone related to the project. Thus, your communication skills should be top-notch to clarify your plans' details, benefits, and positive aspects. It should make even someone showing strong disagreement with your goals understand the sustainability and development it will bring at the economic and communal levels. 

4. Creativity

When going through a project or working on a plan for a new one, things always don’t go as planned. You might face issues on the infrastructure level, misuse of land, environmental quality, sanitation, health hazards, and others. 

As an urban planner, you must come up with creative plans to resolve any conflicts your project might create. You should be able to acknowledge the existing issues and the complications that your plans might create and devise a creative plan to improve the quality of urbanization at the communal level with minimum impairment. 

5. Time-Management Skills

As an urban planner, you might work on multiple projects and coordinate with several project teams. You will need impeccable time management skills to oversee the tasks, handle reporting related to the projects, and at even times organize, motivate, and lead the field team. 

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The Process of Becoming an Urban Planner

• Get at least a degree in Urban Planning.

It is possible to land junior-level planning positions after an undergraduate degree; however, if you are serious about building a career in the field, you will at least need a graduate-level education. Employers seek urban planners with advanced degrees that deepen their understanding of the specialization field.

Get a graduate or post-graduate degree in your focus of study, providing solid career prospects and advancement opportunities.

Degree Programs for Urban Planners

• Certifications

Unlike other disciplines, the urban planning major has certification requirements to be a professional practitioner. Based on your job requirement, you might have to get certified in different programs like Certified Urban Designer(CUD), Certified Real Estate Inspector(CRI), and American Institute of Certified Planners(AICP).

As a certified practitioner, you will have high credibility in the job market and can have a competitive advantage in your professional years. 

• Get an entry-level job, and gain experience 

In the professional years as an urban planner, most employers expect at least two years of relevant experience in the field. Even if you complete your post-graduate degree without any experience, you might have to start from the bottom of the table. 

Get entry-level jobs related to your focus of study and slowly build your professional portfolio. Also, internship and co-op programs can come in handy to build your network-commence your career and gain experience in the field. 

Salary of Urban Planner

Urban planners are among the highest-paid professionals in the art major, an average urban planner in the USA makes an average base salary of $58,876/year and a total base payout between $43k - $89k. 

However, this is just an aggregation of a limited number of professionals; the payout can differ and be influenced by other factors like specialization and relevant experience. 

An entry-level urban planner with less than 1 year of experience in the field can make around $48,563, including bonus and profit-sharing. 

Here are some of the salary ratios of urban planners on a worldwide scale:

Advantages and Disadvantages of Becoming Urban Planner 

Advantages

• Financial stability, high-paying job opportunities.
• Different rewarding career paths. 
• Freedom for creativity.
• Opportunity to give back to the community.
• Stable and career advancement profession
• Influential and well-respected profession.
• Sustainability promotion.
• Development opportunities for neglected areas.
• Understanding of systems and connections.
• Cool working projects in different sectors. 
• Future-oriented profession. 

Disadvantages

• Requirement for higher-level education for career advancement.
• Stressful working environment, tight schedules, and close calls with deadlines.
• Everybody isn’t happy with your development plans.
• Constant work pressure from development companies or different faculties.
• Need to interact with people on a community level to address the issues. 
• Sustainability isn’t cheap.
• Have to live in the city where the project is taking place. 

Career as an Urban Planner

After completing your degree in urban planning, you can apply for various job opportunities in a wide range of sectors depending on your specialization and career goals. Although the direct field related to the degree is development, management, inspection, and management of different parts of urban civilization, the graduates can also dabble in management, consulting, and assessment roles.  

Here are the different roles you can fill as an urban planning student:

Sectors: 

• Landscape Architecture
• Planning Consultancies 
• Local Authorities 
• Government Planning Departments
• Real Estate 
• Transportation 
• NGOs
• Inspection/Surveying
• Cartography
• Fire Risk Assessment

Job Titles:

• Urban Designer 
• Town Planner
• Building Inspection/Conservation Officer 
• Landscape Architect
• Transport Planner
• Development Manager
• Project Manager
• GIS Technician 
• Cartographer
• Property Developer
• Historian
• Land Use Planner
• Conservation Officer 
• Community Development Worker
• Panning Consultant 
• Business Analyst
• Permit Officer 
• Civil Service Administrator
• Regional Planner
• Community Development Officer
• Town Planner
• Housing Officer
• Sales Manager
• Urban Lecturer

FAQ Related to ‘How to Become Urban Planner’?

• What qualifications are required to become an Urban Planner?

Most urban planners and regional planners must have a graduate or post-graduate degree from an accredited university with a recognized urban planning degree program. 

• Is Urban Planning a good career choice?

The urban planning profession touches many sectors, from housing, planning, real estate, transportation, assessment, inspection, NGO, cartography, and others, providing many career advancement opportunities to the graduates. 

• What undergraduate degrees are best suited for Urban Planning?

An undergraduate degree program in architecture, landscape architecture, geography, economics, environmental studies, political science, or public administration best suits urban planning. The specialization may differ based on the students' study of focus and career choice.

• How much do Urban Planners and City Planners make?

The average base salary of an urban planner in the USA is around $58,876/year and  $57,732/year, respectively. However, it is just a base salary assumption. The salary may vastly differ depending on the number of relevant experience in the field and the education level.

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