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Urban
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Uuse Planning
5.15.06
was established in 1946.
It was among the first 10 planning education programs in the United States. The original bases of the
Department and its program were ideas about regionalism (hence the degree, Master of Regional Planning),
broadly conceived development planning, and the application of social science methods to practical problems
of government that were being explored on the Chapel Hill campus in the 1940’s.
This was the first planning department to be
established with its principal university base in
the social sciences rather than in architecture
or landscape design and to demonstrate the
interdisciplinary union of social science, design
and engineering. It has retained and strengthened
that social science legacy through the
multidisciplinary research and teaching programs
of its faculty.
From
an original concern for applications of social
science to regional development needs, coupled
with a traditional basis in physical planning prevalent
in the 1940’s and 1950’s, the Department broadened
the scope of its curriculum and its faculty in the
following decades. Urban and community planning
were included almost from the start, and land use
planning became the basic approach to physical
planning. Social planning, housing, and environmental
planning were added in the 1960’s. Economic
development and community development were
added in the 1970’s.
The Department added planning in developing countries,
real estate development, and public policy analysis in
the 1980’s. The History, Design and Preservation of the
Built Environment is the most recent specialization
addition. The Department has also increased its dual
degree and certificate programs. With populations
growing, environmental concerns increasing, and laws
becoming more complex, DCRP has teamed with other
departments to create dual-degree programs that meet
the increasing demands facing urban America. Current
dual-degree programs include: Business, Civil
Engineering, Landscape Architecture, Law, Public
Administration and Public Health.
The concept of sustainable development as a goal of
planning remains central to the Department’s mission.
Whether the objectives are improved physical, social,
economic, or environmental conditions, or more efficient
and equitable policies, programs and environments,
planning is a way of effectively marshalling resources
to public development objectives. The professional
planner combines an understanding of urban and
regional theory grounded in a spatial context and a
grasp of planning and management methods to guide
development in the public interest.
Professor John A. Parker
Department of City and Regional Planning
in 1946 and acted as chairmen until his 1974 retirement. He remained active in alumni
affairs and other departmental functions for
the subsequent 25 years.
Professor Parker envisioned the Department
of City and Regional Planning as the first
planning program in the nation with its
principal university base in the social
sciences rather than landscape design,
architecture, or engineering.
Professor Parker was a native of Canada
who earned an architecture degree and
a Master of City Planning degree at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He was awarded the Medal of the American
Society of Planning Officials in 1975, the
Distinguished Professional Achievement
Award from the North Carolina Chapter
of APA in 1982, and the Distinguished
Planning Educator Award of the
Association of Collegiate Schools of
Planning in 1994. Professor Parker died
in 2001 at the age of 91.
The history of the Department is also revealed in its distinguished professors emeriti.
John A. Parker was the founder and head of the Department for its first 28 years, through 1974 and remained
active in alumni affairs and other departmental functions for the subsequent 25 years (see sidebar). Jim Webb,
designer, practitioner and contributor to the original plan for the Research Triangle Park, was the first faculty
member hired by Parker. F. Stuart Chapin, Jr., the second faculty member hired by Parker, became the model
social science scholar and wrote the seminal text on urban land use planning (see: ULUP).
Maynard Hufschmidt came from the Harvard water resources planning program in the 1960’s, to help build the
environmental and policy analysis areas. Shirley Weiss became a leading scholar in central city revitalization and
large scale development planning. Edward Kaiser spent his entire 38-year career here carrying on Chapin’s work
and contributing significantly to the field of development management.