The CRP Program was established in 1980 as a result of concern among design and planning practitioners that uncontrolled growth was threatening the quality of life in the American Southwest. Since then, it has built a long-standing commitment to progressive planning and become known as a regional and national leader in community-based planning education. The program is nationally accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board and affiliated with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning.

The MCRP program is the only graduate planning program in the State of New Mexico. Students may come from a variety of academic backgrounds which have included such diverse fields as anthropology, architecture, civil engineering, economics, education, environmental design, fine arts, geography, minority and gender studies, management, political science, public health, pre-law, and sociology.

The program's trajectory of excellence results from a curriculum that emphasizes the art of building community at a local scale and within regions. The program encourages peer support. Small classes foster direct interaction with instructors. Our courses confer technical skills through team-based, case-based learning. We work collectively to build effective teams, to build group consensus and to bring about the productive resolution of conflict. We also learn how to communicate complex information in plain language.

We are actively engaged in a constant inquiry. In the classroom, in the halls, in faculty and student meetings and in our research questions, we attempt to understand the shifting and variable roots of community identity. We also query the dynamic of power. Community based planning is, first and foremost, about the making of social movements. It is about a collective commitment to social justice. Community is the crucible in which we create social change.

Community, in this empowered sense, is not only where others say we belong, but where we choose to belong, and how we choose to behave toward each other. Community identity represents our personal commitment to-and celebration of-our places, our peoples, our philosophies and where and how we choose to locate ourselves in the academy, the region and the globe.

The program strives to inform planners in techniques that foster citizen participation and community driven planning. This process enriches all of us, as individuals and collectively.

The School of Architecture and Planning at UNM, where our program is housed, is a friendly place. We invite you to visit the School and contact our staff, faculty, and students. We always welcome the opportunity to share and discuss the merits of our program.

Claudia B. Isaac, Ph.D ·
Email: <cisaac@unm.edu>
Director, Community and Regional Planning Program
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87131
(505) 277-5050