Lois Takahashi 
Professor of Urban Planning

 For over 40 years, UCLA's Department of Urban Planning has been a leading center of innovation and action. We are consistently ranked among the nation's top planning programs.  We study urgent and topical issues at multiple scales and using interdisciplinary approaches -- from local community development in Southern California to global environmental degradation -- and we are on the leading edge of scholarship in the provision of public services, transportation, housing and community development, environmental regulation and resource management, and regional and international development.

Our faculty and students are united by a shared commitment to applied, action-oriented problem-solving focused on socially, economically and politically disadvantaged populations.   We seek to promote social justice through critical analyses of public policies, plans, and programs, and the development of institutions that empower people at the grassroots.

Our teaching reflects and is informed by our research. We are committed to a curriculum that builds on the cultural diversity of our student body and the larger community.  Our graduate degree programs, with several joint programs including Law, Environmental Health Sciences, Architecture, Management, and Latin American Studies, provide students with a comprehensive and theoretical understanding of the multiple forces that shape a community's well-being and the cutting-edge tools needed to identify problems, design solutions, and evaluate implementation.   Through coursework and internships, our students acquire the professional skills needed to guide the complex, interrelated processes of social and economic change on any geographic scale.

We hope you visit the pages of our web site to explore our programs and people, and that you consider our program as a way to join the over 2000 alumni who have brought their formidable skills, knowledge, and experience to bear on the pressing problems of our times. 

A History of Urban Planning at UCLA