Do you want to design and shape the world around you? Consider the Master of Community Planning degree at Vancouver Island University. Community planners play a huge role in the development of neighbourhoods, towns, cities and regions. An urban planner can also help shape a community’s response to a range of emerging issues such as climate change; and economic issues such as tourism by creating a sustainable city also known as ecocity.

The MCP program at VIU combines research, applied learning through a variety of in-community, real-world projects, and interactions with the professional planning community to give you a wide range of skills and knowledge. This community planning program is fully accredited through the Canadian Institute of Planners, alongside Canada’s historic planning schools.

The Master of Community Planning Program
The Master of Community Planning (MCP) is an applied program that is fully accredited by the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP). Graduates are eligible to apply for student membership with CIP while at VIU and can apply for full membership post-graduation."

The program focuses on:

Small city and town planning;
Community and urban design, including a strong GIS component;
Rural/urban interface planning;
First Nations planning (with attention to the issues relevant to the First Nations of Vancouver Island and coastal British Columbia);
Sustainable economic issues, including tourism; and
Emerging issues such as climate change and planning for post-fossil fuel communities.
This is an intensive program with many opportunities to apply the skills and techniques learned in the program to "real life" planning questions and problems. Students will be engaged in self-directed learning and group studies, seminars and discussions, and will have many opportunities to meet and learn from professional planners. There is also a strong focus on urban design and visual representations of community planning, including GIS.

The MCP is a 2 year program (September to April in Year 1 and September to April in Year 2). Students may be involved in field work and research in the summer semesters between Year 1 and Year 2. The program is a cohort model intended to be completed over two years. However, students may take additional semesters to complete their program if their thesis or major project has not been completed by April of Year 2.

By program completion, our graduates will have a broad interdisciplinary knowledge of how planners can influence the futures of neighbourhoods, small communities, and rural areas both locally and world-wide. Our graduates will have new skills that will enable them to serve citizens and communities as they respond the social, economic, environmental, and sustainability issues that shape our world.

Graduates from accredited planning programs work in a variety of placements, from local governments (current and long range planning, sustainability planning, parks, heritage, social planning, and more) to provincial agencies (community affairs, environment, lands, and parks) to federal and international organizations (non-profit and non-governmental organizations, international government agencies). Accredited planners also work in private industry, providing skills and advice to all levels of government, developers, citizens, and agencies.

In addition, planners may be employed in less traditional environments where they can apply their skills in policy development and change management. They work in both private and public agencies across a wide spectrum– on issues such as economic development, social sustainability, environmental protection, and cultural awareness. In short, the knowledge and skills gained at an accredited program are highly transferrable to many career and employment opportunities.