Neighborhood Planning and Community Development

students tour the Fillmore neighborhood of Buffalo, standing in a group, with the background a painted mural saying "welcome" in a dozen different languages.

This specialization focuses on neighborhood planning and central city revitalization.  It views neighborhood planning as a community driven process that interweaves the physical, ecological, economic and social dimensions of neighborhood and city development into a single fabric, creating livable, sustainable urban environments. 

The specialization is particularly concerned with the intersectionality of race, class, gender and the city building process and the ways in which urban institutions mediate socioeconomic inequalities and drive the transformation of underdeveloped communities.  At its core, the specialization grapples with the question of building through environmental design the just urban metropolis. Students in Neighborhood Planning and Community Development are prepared to grapple successfully with the challenges of sustainably building the 21st century American city.

  • Introductory:  URP 542: Central City Revitalization, 3 crd, or URP 606, Housing and Community Development, 3 crd
  • Advanced: URP 508, Race, Class and Gender, 3 crd , or URP 541:  Nonprofit Management, 3 crd, or URP 509: Qualitative Methods, 3 crd
  • URP 581 or URP 582, Planning Practicum, related to specialization, 6 credits
  • Specialization paper, consisting of one of the following, as approved by the specialization director:
    • Masters Project relevant to the specialization
    • Thesis relevant to the specialization
    • Independent study relevant to the specialization

Specialization Director:
Henry Louis Taylor Jr., PhD
htaylor@buffalo.edu