Doctor of Philosophy in Urban and Regional Planning and Design - Urban Design

The School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation offers a Doctoral Program, the Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning and Design. Participating programs include Urban Studies and Planning, Architecture, Historic Preservation, Landscape Architecture, and The National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education. The program prepares students to teach at the university level in departments of Urban Planning, Architecture, Historic Preservation, Real Estate Development, or Landscape Architecture, as well as qualifies graduates to conduct research and participate in high-level decision-making in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Intimate and highly competitive, the Ph.D. program offers students a tailored Ph.D. experience and the flexibility to bridge a number of disciplines related to the built environment, including urban planning, design, historic preservation, and real-estate development. Our nationally renowned faculty, the affiliated National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education, and proximity to the architecturally rich, historically significant, and diverse urban fabric of the Mid-Atlantic region make the University of Maryland an exciting place to study urban planning, design, and historic preservation. This specialization includes the study of both historical and contemporary issues of design in an urban environment, including the means by which urban form and design is regulated through codes, guidelines and review processes. Students in this specialization will explore the relationship between buildings, culture, context, the urban condition, and their influence on the making of the urban form. This field includes an emphasis on the relationship between human behavior and built form and also encompasses a special focus on design strategies and initiatives that revitalize cities and mitigate urban sprawl. It also includes the exploration of how sprawl and growth management can and do inform urban design.

Statement of Purpose
Transcript(s)
TOEFL/IELTS/PTE (international graduate students)
Letters of Recommendation (3)
CV/Resume
Portfolio PDF Upload (optional)
Writing Samples (two required, up to one more optional)
Description of Research/Work Experience (optional)
Graduate Record Examination (GRE) (optional)
Master's degree in a related field.
The program is highly selective and individualized. Approximately five students will be admitted each year. Students admitted to the Ph.D. program will be expected to have completed a Master's degree in a related field, including but not exclusively urban planning, architecture, historic preservation, or landscape architecture. Students are expected to enter the Ph.D. program with two semesters of graduate-level quantitative research methods. These courses can be taken after the entrance to the program and prior to their advanced methods course.
iBT TOEFL - 96 Overall (Speaking 22, Listening 24, Reading 26, Writing 24)
IELTS - 7 Overall (Listening 7, Reading 7, Writing 7, Speaking 6.5)