Urban Development

Be part of developing cities of the future

The Urban Development Program has two purposes:

  • To provide an intensive yet balanced education on the nature of urbanism, the processes affecting urban growth, and the methods and techniques used to analyze urban markets land use and urbanization.
  • To prepare students for careers in businesses and agencies concerned with urban development.

The objective of the UDP is to ensure that graduates understand the processes of urban growth and change matched with the analytical skills required to create opportunities and solve problems. It emphasizes the relative importance of the enterprises influencing the urban landscape. Since the program is oriented towards the behaviour of businesses and individuals, the UDP should not be confused with a “planning program”. If students wish to combine knowledge of urban processes with well-developed analytic skills and business acumen, Western’s UDP has and continues to fill this void with considerable success!

Western’s Urban Development Program provides an excellent background for careers in businesses such as real estate management and research firms, planning consultants, land developers, appraisal firms, financial institutions, retail organizations, industrial location consultants, and federal and provincial ministries concerned with revenue, housing, and urban and regional development. Graduates of the program are now pursuing careers in all of these areas in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia, and many are now in the middle and upper echelons of both corporations and governments.

Visit our series of videos featuring distinguished alumni of our innovative Urban Development Program (UDP) speaking about their careers and how they benefitted from completing an undergraduate degree in this novel interdisciplinary program within the Department of Geography and Environment.

Degree Options:

Please direct questions regarding the Urban Development Program to the program director: Dr. Jason Gilliland. •. Phone: 519-661-2111, Ext. 81239 •. Email: jgillila@uwo.ca