ABSTRACT
In reality, there are multiple barriers to recruiting and retaining people of color in urban planning education and the profession. Diversity can be seen as a balance of genders in student populations or practitioners’ settings, from a socioeconomic viewpoint, or as a challenge, or an advantage, when it comes to dealing with international students. The Planning Accreditation Board (PAB) notes that the number of students, US and international, in PAB-accredited bachelor’s degree programs declined by 19% between 2008 and 2019. Planning as a potential, and solidly white-collar, career might seem, based on the declining enrollment numbers in undergraduate and graduate programs, an unusual choice, especially for first-generation college students in inner-city high schools and their parents. With emerging climate-change patterns, urbanization, migration, and implementation of economic and community development measures, it is more apparent than ever that the future of humanity will be an urban future.
