Department of Urban and Regional Planning

College of Social Sciences
Saunders Hall 107
2424 Maile Way
Honolulu, HI 96822
Tel: (808) 956-7381
Fax: (808) 956-6870
Email: idurp@hawaii.edu
Web: manoa.hawaii.edu/durp

Faculty

*A. Das, PhD (Chair)—community participation and empowerment, urban informality, slum upgrading, decentralization and local governance, role of civil society in development, inclusive urbanization
*M. Coffman, PhD—environmental planning, energy and climate change policy, resource management, system modeling
*P. Das, PhD—water governance, urban environmental services, urban poverty, climate adaptation, urban form, resilient design, planning pedagogy
*K. E. Kim, PhD—risk assessment, risk management, disaster management and humanitarian assistance, transportation, traffic safety, resilience, environmental management, advanced methods, GIS, spatial statistics, categorical data analysis, and evacuation modeling
*D, Milz—environmental planning, dispute resolution, facilitation, community engagement, participatory/collaborative planning, resilience
J. Park, PhD—urban economics, residential segregation in U.S. cities and its impact on household welfare, opportunity, and intergenerational mobility
*S. Raj, PhD—climate change, food systems planning, climate adaptation planning, and environmental planning
*S. Shen, PhD—GIS, climate change impact, critical infrastructure vulnerability, risk perception and adaptation

Cooperating Graduate Faculty

D. L. Callies, JD—land use management and control, intergovernmental relations
W. Chapman, PhD—historic preservation
J. Darrah-Okike, PhD—urban and political sociology, race and ethnicity, international migration
D. Eversole, BS—coastal hazard mitigation and climate adaptation
K. Freitas, PhD—indigenous planning
M. Glick, MS—energy policy and innovation
B. Houghton, PhD—volcanology, hazards, and society
D. Lerner, PhD—environmental physiology of fishes, environmental contaminants’ affect on fish growth, physiology, and behavior
D. McGregor, PhD—Hawaiian history, social movements in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific
K. Suryanata, PhD—political ecology, agriculture, rural development in Asia
B. Szuster, PhD—coastal land conservation, impact of human development activities

Affiliate Graduate Faculty

P. Flachsbart, PhD—transit-oriented development, neighborhood planning, environmental psychology, human exposure to air pollution
D. Foley, PhD—strategies of citizen participation, collaboration, nonprofit planning and management, community building, and community-based planning
K. Kawamoto, PhD—social capital, environmental planning, disaster management
V. Keener, PhD—applied interdisciplinary hydrology & climatology; climate adaptation & policy in Pacific Islands
L. Kong, PhD—tsunami warning & mitigation systems
P. Pant, PhD—transportation planning, economics, safety, & resilience
M. Parke, PhD—land use suitability for wastewater reuse, Geographical Information Systems, remote sensing and Unmanned Aerial Systems for natural resource monitoring
D. Sakamoto—Community-based; sustainable urban planning, urban design, and architecture; resilient building design for coastal communities
S. Saksena, PhD—Urban environment, environmental risk analysis, emerging infectious diseases, health disparities, peri-urbanization, transport and air pollution, citizen science, Asia-Pacific
K. Turner—sustainable economic development policy, planning, energy policy
K. Tibbetts, PhD—evaluation design & implementation
R. Tam—transportation planning, urban development

Emeritus Faculty

T. Dinell, MPA—planning theory, citizen participation, social policy, professional practice, and conflict resolution
C. M. Douglass, PhD—urbanization in Asia, rural-urban linkages, spatial planning theory, community and civic space, and migration
L. Minerbi, DottArch—comparative urbanism, land use and environmental planning, sustainability, Pacific Islands planning

* Graduate Faculty

The Academic Program

Urban and regional planning is a dynamic field that requires innovative solutions from committed and thoughtful individuals. Historically, it emerged out of the convergence of two concerns: (1) the provision of urban infrastructure; and (2) the initiation of social reform. Today the underlying focus on community well-being continues, and urban and regional planning has broadened to include the development, implementation, and evaluation of a wide range of policies.

Specifically, urban and regional planners are concerned with:

The use of land in the city, suburbs, and rural areas; particularly with the transition from one use to another
potentially adverse impacts of human activities on a limited physical environment and the possible mitigation of those impacts;
the design of the city and the surrounding region to facilitate the engagement in the activities that people need and desire;
settlement systems and the location of human activities in urban and regional space;
identification of social needs and the design and provision of services and facilities to meet those needs;
the distribution of resources, benefits and costs among people;
the anticipation of change and its impact on how people do and can live;
the participation of citizens in planning processes which affect their future;
the way that choices are made, decisions implemented and actions evaluated, and the means by which those processes can be improved in urban and regional areas.

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP):

takes a multidisciplinary approach to planning education recognizing in particular the important contributions to planning that can be made by the social and natural sciences and by the architectural, public health, social work, and civil engineering professions;
emphasizes extensive community involvement;
engages in research that focuses on the application of planning methodologies and implementation of planning endeavors;
recognizes the close relationship between urban and regional planning and politics;
acknowledges the difficulty of resolving the value differences that lie at the heart of most planning problems;
appreciates both the importance and the elusiveness of critical concepts, such as “the public interest” to urban and regional planning.

UH Mānoa Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) graduates, of whom there are about 642, hold planning and related positions in a variety of public agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and private firms in Hawaiʻi, on the continental U.S., and in the Asia Pacific region.

Accreditation

The department is accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board.

4+1 BAM BS Global Environmental Science and MURP

Combined Bachelor’s & Master’s Degree (BAM) Pathways afford a way for highly motivated students to efficiently complete a Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree in a shorter time frame by double-counting course work (3 courses) at the undergraduate tuition rate. In most cases, pathway students graduate with the Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree within 5 years (total).

4+1 BAM BA Hawaiian Studies and MURP

Graduate Study

The department offers a multidisciplinary approach to planning education. Students are provided with an opportunity to develop an individualized but integrated course of study drawing on this department and other departments and professional schools in UH Mānoa. Faculty and students engage in both funded and non-funded research and community service. The graduate curriculum focuses on theory, methodology, and practice in the following areas: community planning; environmental planning and sustainability; international development planning; land use, transportation and infrastructure planning; and disaster management and humanitarian assistance (DMHA). Planning in the developing countries of Asia is emphasized.

For further information regarding the master’s degree or certificate programs, students should write to the department.

Programs

Master’s

Urban and Regional Planning, MURP

Doctorate

Urban and Regional Planning, PhD

Graduate Certificate