About

Overview

The Michigan State University Urban and Regional Planning Practicum connects communities with faculty-guided teams of undergraduate and graduate planning students. Over the course of a semester, students work directly with municipalities, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and community groups to investigate real planning challenges and develop practical, community-informed recommendations.

The Practicum is a cornerstone of the Urban and Regional Planning Program’s outreach mission. It integrates teaching, applied research, and community engagement while giving students the opportunity to apply planning knowledge in an authentic client-based setting. For community partners, the Practicum provides focused research, analysis, engagement, and planning assistance that can help advance locally identified priorities.

What Practicum Teams Can Do

Every community faces unique opportunities and challenges, and the Urban & Regional Planning Practicum is designed to provide flexible, client-centered planning assistance tailored to local needs. Working in collaboration with community partners, practicum teams apply research, analysis, public engagement, and design to address a wide range of planning issues at the neighborhood, corridor, district, and community scales. Each project is developed through a collaborative process that integrates professional planning methods with community knowledge, resulting in practical, evidence-based recommendations that support informed decision-making and long-term implementation.

Practicum projects can address a broad range of planning and community development needs, including:

  • Neighborhood revitalization and community development
  • Corridor and district planning
  • Downtown and commercial-area revitalization
  • Land-use and redevelopment studies
  • Housing and neighborhood stabilization
  • Transportation, mobility, and nonmotorized planning
  • Public-space and placemaking strategies
  • Parks, recreation, and green infrastructure
  • Climate resilience and environmental justice
  • Economic development and implementation planning
  • Zoning, development regulations, and policy analysis
  • Community engagement and stakeholder research
  • Site feasibility and adaptive reuse planning

Projects typically combine qualitative, quantitative, spatial, and community-engagement methods. The specific research approach and final products are determined collaboratively based on the project scope, available information, community priorities, and semester timeline

A Collaborative, Client-Based Planning Experience

Each Practicum project is developed in partnership with a community client and completed during the spring semester. Faculty and students collaborate closely with the client throughout the project to clarify the scope of work, review findings, gather community input, evaluate alternatives, and refine recommendations.

Projects are structured to respond to the client’s needs while remaining achievable within the academic semester. Students do not complete a classroom exercise. They work as planning consultants, following a professional process and producing materials intended to support future community decision-making.

Community partners may include:

  • Municipalities and county governments
  • Planning and economic development agencies
  • Neighborhood and community organizations
  • Nonprofit organizations
  • Transit, housing, environmental, and public service agencies

Regional authorities and other public-sector partners