Honing your skills for a San Diego job in urban planning

You would think that in a region as densely populated and developed as San Diego is, finding a job in urban planning and development would be tough. On the contrary, San Diego - a place where everyone wants to live - will have an ongoing need for skilled urban planners and development professionals who can help the region meet its growth needs while still protecting the environment.  Just ask Bob Leiter, director of land use and transportation planning for the regional transportation planning agency San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG).

“Most of the growth is going to be in urban areas so there will be a continual need to do better urban planning and address a lot of environmental, economic and social issues,” Leiter says. “Even in a down economy a lot of cities and developers are doing long range planning to prepare themselves for the next growth cycle. Urban planning is less susceptible to the economic cycles than other related fields.”

According to CollegeGrad.com, employment growth in the urban planning and development field will be driven by the need for state and local governments to provide public services such as regulation of commercial development, the environment, transportation, housing, and land use and development for an expanding population. Most new jobs for urban and regional planners will be in local government, as planners will be needed to address an array of problems associated with population growth.

Leiter, an urban planner for the last 35 years, says new college graduates in this field should not have a problem finding a job.

“We are seeing urban planners coming out of a variety of bachelor’s degree programs, in addition to the more traditional urban planning academic programs,” he says. “A lot of urban planning is related to social sciences, economics, geography, architecture and urban design. All these are good fields for somebody who wants to think about being an urban planner but wants to specialize in one particular area.”

Leiter says those who are interested in this field will have a better chance at honing their skills and finding a job by having an internship either with a city agency or private planning firm.

He adds that urban planners who choose not to earn a master’s degree can still move up in the field by enrolling in certificate programs, which will allow them to get the additional training they need to keep up with changes in the field.  Current and future urban planners and developers can hone their skills by taking a variety of courses at UC San Diego Extension.

The program, which leads to a certificate in urban planning and development, provides a thorough basis for understanding the processes that define and impact planning in both California and the San Diego region. Students also learn the wide variety of challenges facing the planning and development industry today, from “in-fill” and smart growth strategies to compliance involving complex environmental regulations.

For the last year, Leiter has been teaching a UC San Diego Extension course called “Planning and Policies for Sustainable Development.”

“We don’t want to squander resources but instead we want to try to make our region sustainable over time,” he explains. “One of the exciting parts of being an urban planner and studying urban planning is to understand how the work we do can lead to sustainability goals. The whole field of regional blueprint planning has really taken off and all the major regional planning organizations in California are doing these regional blueprint plans. We are using those plans to address some of the significant environmental issues like climate change.

“Comprehensive planning is becoming more relevant to solving real world problems such as environmental and economic problems and social equity issues,” Leiter adds. “I think for that reason you’re going to see in the future the need for more well trained urban planners to make those connections.”

If you are a recent urban planning graduate or if you’re thinking about entering the field, keep in mind the technical skills necessary to do your job.

Bill Chopyk, director of planning and development services for the City of La Mesa, says one of the biggest changes in urban planning and development has been technological advances such as the use of  geographical information systems (GIS) and computer aided design (CAD).

“Technology has changed a great deal since I went to college,” says Chopyk, an urban planner for 26 years. “We used to take measurements by hand. We now have GIS systems where you can map a boundary.  A new person entering the field really needs to have those skills and the new course curriculums such as the program at UC San Diego Extension provide that kind of training.”

Andrea Siedsma writes for SDNN.

Tags: continuing education, san diego job, sandag, SDNN, UC San Diego Extension, urban planning

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