Spotlight on green careers: Urban planners

The work of urban planners is visible all around us in our cities and communities, in the zoning of neighborhoods, in building codes and transportation infrastructure, and in the green spaces in which people gather and play. Urban planners are responsible for guiding the development of cities and towns, working with government officials and community members to determine the best way for communities to grow responsibly and sustainably. With more than half of the global population living in urban areas, the work of planners impacts the lives of billions of people.

Urban planners can leverage green building to advance environmental progress

While some of the core tenets and functions of the planning profession have remained the same in modern U.S. history, the field has also evolved to adapt to changing social and environmental needs. Fundamentally, planners support the creation and implementation of the plans and policies affecting land use, codes and zoning, community facilities, housing and transportation. While these tasks remain a principal part of the profession, planners are increasingly incorporating sustainability, smart growth and resilience into their work.

Urban planners can leverage green building to advance environmental progress for their governments, cities and communities. There are multiple specializations within the planning field that support green building.

• Community planners create and implement the plans and policies that promote sustainability. They can influence zoning, land use, building codes, utilities and infrastructure—all of which can help foster green building and regenerative development.
• Economic planners quantify the financial impact and considerations of green building, sustainability, environmental protection, and climate adaptation and resilience. This specialization applies an economic lens to the triple bottom line in planning.
• Environmental planners optimize the environmental impacts of development and construction and support green building projects using rating systems like LEED.
• Transportation planners promote and develop alternative modes of transportation such as walking, bicycling and mass transit. These planners help implement the infrastructure and transportation networks that allow people to move around their communities sustainably.

Learn more about urban planning

To support learners who are interested in a planning career, or those who want to learn more about urban and community planning, USGBC has created an urban planner course bundle. This bundle is available for only $75, which is less than the cost of four individually purchased courses or the course catalog subscription. By completing the four bundled courses, you will earn 4 GBCI CE credits, including 3 LEED-specific hours.

Courses include:

• Global LEED for Cities Showcase: Hear how interdisciplinary groups of stakeholders in Italy, Mexico and Japan leveraged the LEED for Cities and Communities rating system to advance sustainability and local climate action in their cities.
• LEED Communities: All In for Net Zero: Community leaders share how the LEED rating system has helped them pursue net zero and ESG priorities.
• Parks and Recreation System Planning: Webinar and reading excerpts demonstrate how innovate green spaces can provide social, economic and environmental benefits.
• Walkability and Smart Growth Strategies in LEED v4.1: Learn how Location and Transportation credits in LEED promote sustainable development, reduced vehicle usage, community health and environmental benefits.

In addition to the above courses, more content and resources to support aspiring and current urban planners include:

• Occupational profile: Urban planner
• LEED for Cities and Communities rating system webpage
• Program articles
• Education courses
• USGBC priorities: Resilience