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Department of Urban Planning and Policy at UIC

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Department of Urban Planning and Policy at UIC

Grounded in social equity and sustainability, we use innovative concepts and technology to understand and address urban issues.

In one of the world's great cities, Urban Planning & Policy (UPP) at UIC has led the way in preparing students for professional and academic careers for over 40 years.

09/14/2026

📚 Join Us for a Friday Forum Book Talk!

We are excited to celebrate Ivis Garcia, Associate Professor at Texas A&M University and graduate of our research program, on the publication of her new book.

Join the Coalition of Urban Planning and Policy Students for a conversation with Professor Garcia as she discusses her new book and explores the stories, histories, and ideas that shape the field of urban planning.

📅 Friday, September 25, 2026
⏰ 12:30–2:00 PM
📍 Zoom
📖 Book Talk: The Story of Urban Planning

Don't miss this opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of one of our distinguished graduates and engage in a thoughtful conversation about the past, present, and future of urban planning.

🔗 Join us for this special Friday Forum!

UrbanPlanningAndPolicy AlumniSpotlight

09/08/2026

Our own Dr. David López-García’s new article in Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning advances the concept of observed accessibility as a complement to traditional approaches to studying access to jobs and opportunities.

Rather than asking which jobs are theoretically reachable, observed accessibility asks: Which jobs do people actually obtain, and through what mechanisms do they gain access to them?

Drawing on employment subcenters across Greater Mexico City, the article brings together spatial analysis, spatial econometrics, and a decade of research on urban accessibility to propose a new framework for understanding how access to employment operates in practice.

09/03/2026

UPP and MCD are stopping by UIC’s annual Graduate College Fair! This will be an opportunity for students at UIC and the Chicagoland area to explore our Master of City Design, Master of Urban Planning and Policy, and other graduate opportunities!

At 2:00PM, we’ll have a breakout session to discuss how the design and planning of cities shapes how people live, work, and play every day through policies and built environment design solutions. Come learn how planners and designers work with communities to create more just, sustainable, and reparative urban futures.

Date: September 16, 2026
Time: 12p.m. to 3 p.m.
Location: Student Center East – Illinois Rooms ABC

05/22/2026

The Spring 2026 MUPP Spatial Planning Studio wrapped up its final presentation by showcasing an ambitious and grounded community planning effort focused on the 16th Street corridor in North Lawndale.

Building from last year’s The Rhythm of 16th Street studio, this year’s plan, Turning Rhythm into Reality, explored how community-centered planning can move from visioning into implementation. Through spatial analysis, market research, stakeholder engagement, and corridor-based planning strategies, students developed actionable proposals focused on equitable development, anti-displacement, housing, governance, and long-term community wealth building.

Over the semester, students worked closely with community stakeholders and development partners including the Steans Family Foundation, CannonDesign, North Lawndale organizations, and practitioners from across Chicago. Jurors and guests from CannonDesign, SOM, SmithGroup, and community leadership joined the final review, creating an incredibly thoughtful conversation around implementation, feasibility, and the future of 16th Street. Huge thanks to Chris Eagan, Jonathan Kelley, Rozanna Rivera, Richard Townsell, Michael Kmak, Evan Gambino, Alejandro Stochetti, and Merav Argov for their comments and support!

The studio presented a compelling narrative of balance between planning and action, not simply imagining change, but carefully studying how development tools, zoning, market realities, governance structures, and community stewardship can work together to support North Lawndale residents without displacement.

05/04/2026

Universities run on labor.

Our graduate workers teach classes, conduct research, and sustain the daily operations that make institutions like UIC possible. Yet they are still fighting for the basics: a living wage, healthcare, job security, and protections for international students.

This is one of those moments where those values of systems, equity, and justice in urban planning and policy have to show up in practice. As faculty in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy, we are in solidarity with the members of the Graduate Employees Organization, as they fight for a fair contract.

Learn more about the 2026 Strike: https://www.uicgeo.org/2026-strike

04/24/2026

In a recent segment from WBEZ Chicago’s In the Loop with Sasha-Ann Simons, our own Kate Lowe, PhD, joined a conversation on the future of the CTA Red Line Extension, and what’s at stake for South Side residents.

The episode comes at a critical moment: a federal judge has ordered the release of more than $3 billion in previously withheld funding for the project, a decision that could determine whether long-awaited transit expansion moves forward.

The discussion situates the Red Line Extension within broader questions of mobility justice, access, and investment. Expanding service beyond 95th Street has long been framed as a way to reconnect communities to jobs, services, and opportunity, while also addressing historic inequities in Chicago’s transit system. Kate Lowe brings that perspective to the conversation, offering insight into how transit decisions shape everyday life and who benefits when investments are delayed, redirected, or finally realized.

🎧 Listen to the full conversation on

04/17/2026

Admitted Student Day at UPP remains a fan favorite for a reason, and this year, it showed up in full force!

We welcomed a cohort of newly admitted MUPPs to CUPPA Hall, with several traveling in from across the country to get a closer look at what makes our Urban Planning and Policy programs unique. They came with questions, ambition, and the energy that comes with taking the next step in your educational journey.

This year, the experience went even deeper. Members of our Urban Planning and Policy Student Association were front and center, sharing candid insights into student involvement, courses, and what it actually feels like to be part of UPP. They also led tours through the building, highlighting the institutes and centers that expand research opportunities, and offering a peek into the Master of City Design studio.

From program structures and specializations, to internships and career pathways, admitted students had the chance to connect directly with faculty, staff, alumni, and current students shaping the field in real time.

We’re excited about the energy this group is bringing, and we have a feeling we’ll be seeing many of them back in CUPPA Hall this fall! Many thanks to our faculty, staff, UPPSA members, and all who made the day as dynamic and welcoming as ever.

04/06/2026

Our last Information Session of the semester is in a few weeks! Get to know our Master of Urban Planning and Policy and Master of City Design programs, from required courses, specializations, and studio opportunities - and see which of these degrees is right for you!

04/03/2026

We’re excited to share the forthcoming book by our incomparable Dr. Sevin Yildiz: Neither Land nor Water: Planning Through Fringe Ecologies in the Meadowlands (1896–2020).

The book offers a compelling urban and environmental history of the New Jersey Meadowlands, a landscape where marshland, infrastructure, and urban development collide.

Through this lens, Dr. Yildiz introduces the concept of “fringe ecologies,” examining spaces that are neither fully natural nor fully urban, but constantly shaped by both. Tracing more than a century of planning, environmental transformation, and resistance, the book reveals how these hybrid landscapes challenge conventional planning approaches, especially in the context of climate change.

By bringing together ecological thinking, planning history, and design, Neither Land nor Water pushes us to rethink how we engage with dynamic, unstable, and contested environments, and what it means to plan in a world where boundaries are no longer fixed.

Address

412 S. Peoria Street, 215 CUPPA Hall
Chicago, IL
60607

Opening Hours

Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm

Telephone

+13129965240

Website

https://cuppa.uic.edu/academics/upp/

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