Urbanism and Planning: Learning through Travel

How do planning students learn about how places function?  Supplementing classroom lessons and reading with immersive field experiences enriches learning.  Field trips to Los Angeles area destinations have long been a steady ingredient in the Cal Poly Pomona planning student's education.  Opportunities to travel further have been more sporadic.  A few students have been able to benefit from international programs each year, and more have been able to travel to American Planning Association conferences and combine the conference experience with exploring a new city.  An even smaller number of URP students have been enrolled when the department has offered a class designed around an immersive experience in another city. 

A few graduates from the 1990s and early 2000s may recall visiting Portland and learning about growth limits, transit-oriented planning, and planning with rain in mind. Others may remember a travel course to cities and towns in the Sonoran Desert to learn about different approaches to building there, and the influences of culture and the environment. 

The URP Department would like to revive the tradition of travel courses and to create a fund to facilitate participation by all students.  We hope you will help!