Welcome to the PSU MURP Program, where we believe the promise of planning is to create environmentally and socially just worlds. We study and practice planning in the Portland metropolitan region in Oregon, a place where planning matters.
The Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) is a professional degree program, with 72 total required credits. You can complete the MURP program in 2 years as a full-time student (about 12 credits per quarter) or go part-time and finish in 3+ years- see our recommended schedules for full and part-time here.
The MURP is accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) and frequently recognized by Planetizen as a top school for earning a graduate degree in planning. The curriculum prepares graduates equally well for careers as professional planners, and for planning-related careers that benefit from the interdisciplinary nature and analytical approach that a planning education offers. The 43-credit core curriculum focuses on the history and theory of planning, plan-making and implementation, analytical methods, leadership and engagement skills, and the dynamics of metropolitan development.
MURP students customize their education by adapting an advising pathway, with their 29 elective credits, to reflect their academic and professional interests within planning. Pathways are flexible and allow students to individualize their curriculum to prepare them for intended career paths. Current pathways include Community Development/Housing, Economic Development, Environment, Food Systems, Land Use, and Transportation. Two dual degree programs are complementary with the MURP program: Public Health and Civil and Environment Engineering (with a transportation focus). We offer a wide range of graduate-level classes!
Our students engage in practice from the moment they join us. Our “classroom” extends beyond the walls of Portland State’s downtown campus: we use the real planning issues and processes of our region, state, and bioregion as the basis for much of our teaching and research. We send our students out into the city and region to learn through class projects, an internship experience, and a two-term workshop project that is client-focused, community-based, and culminates in a professional product to serve as a capstone to the program.
Check out the links below for more information. Keep up with current news in the MURP program and in the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning on our school homepage and follow us on social media!