Bachelor of Community Design
Make an Impact
Navigating complex issues from climate change to affordable housing to public transit鈥攑lanning is everywhere. As a multidisciplinary field, the goal of planning is to promote the health and well-being of our communities. This involves thinking about how to better use land, resources, facilities, and services to secure physical, economic, and social prosperity. Planning helps make communities thrive.
Planners are problem solvers who are trained to analyze a range of urban, regional, environmental, and community challenges. They make recommendations on the direction of cities and regions, working with residents and elected officials to guide a better future for everyone.
Within this diverse field, planners work to design inclusive public spaces, efficient transportation, and sustainable communities鈥攁mong countless other applications. With an honours bachelor鈥檚 degree in Community Design (Planning) from 抖淫视频鈥檚 School of Planning, you can join a field that shapes how communities grow and change into the future through policy and design.
Why our Planning Program?
Our courses offer students the opportunity to work in a collegial and cooperative atmosphere with small class sizes and place-based learning.
Through a mixture of lecture, seminar and studio courses, students learn the foundational theories of planning rooted in the natural and social sciences. The program will interest students who want to study the interconnections between the human and natural worlds and apply that knowledge to solve problems confronting communities, the environment, and cities.
Our approach to education involves experiential learning, with projects done in cooperation with community clients. The School of Planning has established relationships with local professional planning organizations, community advocacy non-profits, and development firms that enrich the program through professional networking, industry events, and employment opportunities.
Graduates holding our honours planning degrees are employed as professional planners across Canada.
Program Options
Our professional (accredited) degree is the Bachelor of Community Design (BCD), Honours (four-year) degree. Students choose between a major in Environmental Planning and a major in Urban Design and Planning (and may combine either with a major in Sustainability).
Graduates from our BCD Honours degree are eligible to become Professional Planners recognized by the Professional Standards Board and the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP).
We also offer two non-accredited degrees: a four-year BCD Double Major with Sustainability, and a three-year BCD.
The honours year allows students who excelled in the first three years of the BCD program to deepen their knowledge, refine their skills, and gain a degree that will lead them to a career in planning.
Application Requirements
Students wishing to enter the program must have completed grade 12 with a 70% or greater average in five grade 12 subjects including English, Math, and one Science. Other recommended grade 12 courses include Biology, and/ or Geography. A background in art or design is an asset.
Applications from students with university backgrounds are also welcome. Based on previous university course work, credit for some Community Design requirements may be eligible for transfer. Students with a full year of transfer credits may apply to take first and second year requirements concurrently.听
If you think that an education and a career in planning is for you, we look forward to hearing from you. Please e-mail us at planning@dal.ca 听