Faculty of Environmental Studies

The main goal of the School of Planning at Waterloo is to produce a complete planner who has the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for professional practice in a wide variety of private and public sector areas or for further post graduate study in planning or several related areas. These skills include the life-long ability to acquire and sustain new knowledge and techniques that will continue to emerge long after graduation.

The emphasis of the curriculum is on planning as a process, conceived in broad terms to include policy-making, research, and decision-making. The subject focus is both regional and local; that is, the integrated planning of regions, large and small. It includes urban-centred or core regions and rural components. The policy emphasis includes environmental, economic, and social issues typical of the Canadian scene, where development and problems of human adjustment are in the forefront.

To implement this approach, the School of Planning has gathered a team of faculty with diverse academic and practical planning experience.

The broad aim of the School is to prepare the student for active participation in the planning process and membership in the profession. This approach gives equal emphasis to the "why" and "how" of planning and requires that a style be adopted that strives for a continuum between classroom and field experience, between planning studies and related disciplines, and between academic studies and future professional practice. Realizing this concept requires integration of selected elements from geography, social sciences, and pure and applied sciences. For this purpose, the School of Planning has been located in a Faculty with an interdisciplinary approach to a wide range of contemporary issues.

The Academic Plan gives a well-rounded preparation for a wide variety of professional or graduate work in urban planning, regional planning, and resource development. Courses on the theory, methods, and philosophy of planning provide an integrating framework. The student is also given an opportunity to pursue a special interest in economic, social, and ecological issues in planning, or in planning methodology and urban design.

This is done through the selection of elective courses and the pursuit of options, specializations, or minors. The Faculty of Environmental Studies expects that students are able to demonstrate effective communication and proficiency in written English. Accordingly, all incoming students are required to write the English Language Proficiency Examination (ELPE) during their first term of enrollment (normally scheduled during the first week in December). Students must satisfy the ELPE requirement before the end of their 2B term or the decision "May Not Proceed" will be assigned.

The Co-operative stream provides for alternative terms of practical work experience and academic study and has competitive limited enrollment. Students are admitted to the co-op stream at time of admission. The first of four work-terms is in the Spring of second year. A work-term report is required upon completion of each work-term and these must be graded as "satisfactory" in order to graduate. All reports must be submitted to the School for evaluation. Inquiries regarding Co-operative studies should be directed to the Department of Co-operative Education and Career Services.

The Regular stream encourages students to actively seek work experience during the summer months of their second and third years.