DURP offers an interdisciplinary program of basic study in Urban and Regional Planning. The programme seeks to create a professional whose scope of knowledge and practice traverses diverse spatial scales, ranging from the site, neighborhood, urban district, municipal area, metropolitan area, and rural village to the broader scale of resource or politico-administrative regions such as counties or combination of such counties to form thematic region. It addresses the need for professionals who are able to appreciate contextual factors that influence the interaction between people and spaces, the agency of spatial structure in mediating the often conflicting demands of nature and man/human spatial practice, and transform insights into policy frameworks, development strategies and programmatic action plans.
The Urban and Regional Planning course, builds upon urban studies, regional science, and spatial analysis as central disciplines, and seeks to prepare students for active participation in the coordination of practices and policies affecting spatial organization of a given territorial dominion including the country’s territorial space, resource regions and political/administrative (County) regions. To this end, students also learn the planning techniques for preparation of plans, guidelines or standards to manage the growth of rural and urban environments, while ensuring that associated human activities and practices are sustainable. The programme serves as background for further postgraduate studies in academic fields and technical specializations in the field of planning, including; urban studies, urban economics, urban management, regional science, transportation and traffic planning, infrastructure and utilities planning, disaster management, climate change and environmental planning, recreation and leisure and tourism planning.