An Educational Framework for Equity and Inclusion in Planning

Authors

• Jacob Schlange, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Zhenghong Tang

Second Advisor

Yunwoo Nam

Third Advisor

Tim Borstelmann

Committee Members

Yunwoo Nam, Tim Borstelmann

Date of this Version

Spring 4-26-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

Schlange, Jacob R. An Educational Framework for Equity and Inclusion in Planning. 2022. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Masters thesis.

Comments

A thesis presented to the faculty of the Graduate College at the University of Nebraska in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Community and Regional Planning

Major: Community and Regional Planning

Under the supervision of Professor Zhenghong Tang. Lincoln, Nebraska, April 2022

Copyright © 2022 Jacob R. Schlange

Abstract

As societal discourse about equity has increased, so has the need for planning practitioners to be educated about equity-related issues. This study examines the planning curricula of the 22 land-grant institutions accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) to assess whether these programs align with the new emphasis on equity in the most recent PAB accreditation standards. Finding a notable lack of required courses explicitly addressing the topic among most of the programs surveyed, this thesis goes on to propose a framework for developing a course on equity in planning, using existing literature on planning education and guidance from the American Planning Association (APA) and PAB. The resulting framework builds on existing equity-centric courses that have traditionally been focused on race or class, exploring the inclusion in urban spaces (or lack thereof) of other identities – immigrant/refugee status, disability, gender, and age among them.

Advisor: Zhenghong Tang