The MCRP degree prepares graduates to shape community and regional change, and work towards environmental sustainability and social justice for their communities and regions as well as the larger world. The MCRP degree program is the only nationally-accredited planning degree offered in New Mexico. Graduates work in research and professional careers with community-based organizations, nonprofit and international non-governmental organizations, private sector firms, and public agencies at the tribal, local, regional, state and federal government levels.

The MCRP degree emphasizes the intersections and interactions among people and both natural and built environments. We have a community-based approach to address intersecting issues in community and economic development, natural resources and environmental planning, and physical planning and design.

We are unique in that we are one of the few planning departments with an emphasis in Indigenous planning. The program is designed to allow students to also pursue a concentration consistent with their professional objectives. There are four MCRP concentrations:

Community Development

This concentration builds community development knowledge and skills. It focuses on the forces that produce inequality, how people work to create opportunity, and how planners can contribute to promoting a fair distribution of resources. Community development focuses on community-based approaches to effecting change, economic development techniques, and tools that enhance quality of life.

Indigenous Planning

This concentration is built on Indigenous planning as an emerging paradigm that uses a culturally responsive and value-based approach to community development. Community development requires that leadership balance the immediacy of action (short term) with a comprehensive vision (long term). Over millennia, Indigenous societies have evolved unique philosophies, languages and patterns of subsistence that can be described as worldviews.

Natural Resources & Environmental Planning

This concentration is designed for students who are interested in the relationships between people and their ecological contexts. Students are trained to analyze planning and policy issues in terms of their implications for the environment and/or human health. Students gain knowledge of people’s interactions with natural systems, learn to apply analytical techniques to the assessment of actual problems, and acquire skills for their solution.

Physical Planning & Design

This concentration is designed for students who are interested in the built environment, including the design of neighborhoods, cities, regions, and public spaces; land use planning and growth management; the planning of transportation and other infrastructure; and development of housing and other projects. Physical planning strategies are integrated with environmental and economic planning objectives.

The MCRP degree requires a minimum of 48 credit hours. Many fulltime students complete the program in 2 years with summer courses. The program can also be completed on a part time basis.