Founded as part of the national initiative to develop capabilities in planning and development in post-war Canada, the oldest continuing planning program in the country is housed in the Department of City Planning at the University of Manitoba. Throughout its fifty-year history the program has been an active participant on the urban scene, and - looking back over this time - the trends and currents that characterised Canadian planning are well represented. In its early years the program concentrated on physical planning, reflecting both the nature of planning at the time and the design work of its founding director, Joseph Kostka. Over the years the program has contributed to planning thought and practice, supporting and shaping the movements that have improved human settlements by bringing scientific knowledge, social and ecological thinking and equity principles into the discipline. A commemoration of this proud legacy was held in Spring of 2000, when we hosted our jubilee celebration in collaboration with MPPI and other partners. For more on our proud history we invite you to seek out (and request if interested) our 50^th anniversary commemorative publication, from the Spring of 2000.

Situated in the Faculty of Architecture, the Department shares in the delivery of an undergraduate program in Environmental Design with three other professional graduate programs: Architecture, Interior Design and Landscape Architecture. This Faculty context shapes the planning program in a number of ways. For example, there are many opportunities available to staff and students for working across disciplines. In course work and research projects, people with different backgrounds - including the design disciplines, social sciences, humanities and engineering - share their perspectives. Another Faculty influence is the emphasis of the studio as the focus for the graduate curriculum. At Manitoba, a studio consists of a series of problem-solving situations arranged by the instructor according to an educational agenda. The Masters of City Planning program involves three studios. The first focuses on neighbourhood planning and is set primarily in the inner city. The second addresses planning problems at the regional scale, and the third relates to aboriginal issues. Where possible, the studios adopt a service-learning framework; that is, students provide useful services to communities outside the University while they develop their planning skills. Students also draw on concepts and materials introduced in courses in planning theory, housing, ecological planning and other substantive areas as they progress through the series of studios.

Students come from across Canada and from every continent to take the MCP degree. Their academic backgrounds are varied and their life experiences diverse. They are attracted to the relatively small class size and the close student - staff relationship that the program maintains, as well as opportunities offered by the curriculum. Students and staff are currently working with local partners in urban revitalisation, local economic development, municipal housing policy, community design and other areas.
The program has seven full-time staff members and draws on local practitioners for about 3 full-time equivalents of sessional instruction. The full-time members are comparatively new to Manitoba, though they have experience in teaching and practice in other places. Sheri Blake joined the Department in 1997, returning to Canada from her position at Temple University, Tokyo. Her work embraces community design and neighbourhood revitalisation, and she is a founding board member of the pioneering West Broadway Community Development Corporation. Rae Bridgman, an urban anthropologist, arrived in 1998 from York University. Her nationally funded work on homelessness has earned her several awards, and she has is currently finishing of a project on child-friendly city planning and design. Ian Skelton, the previous Department Head, came to Manitoba in 1996 from the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Waterloo. His research and publications focus on social policy and housing. David van Vliet, one of Canada’s leading researchers and practitioners in sustainable community design, joined Manitoba in 1998. His documentation of case studies in northern Europe has achieved international acclaim. Ian Wight, the current Head, well known  in CIP and MPPI circles came to Manitoba in 1994 after extensive professional practice in Western Canada. He has been active in reconceptualising regional planning to incorporate perspectives involving ecological sustainability, placemaking and integral practice. Richard Milgrom joined the Department in 2005 bringing experience as an architect, urban designer and community-based planning and design activist. The current Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, David Witty, also makes his Departmental home in City Planning. Specialising in urban design, he began his current appointment in 2002.