Research & Outreach

The Urban Affairs and Planning program at Virginia Tech conducts basic and applied research on national and international development patterns, focusing on key forces shaping metropolitan growth such as demographics, environment, technology, design, transportation, and governance. It seeks to expand knowledge in urban and metropolitan affairs in order to improve policy and practice, and educate the general public on important issues facing communities. The urban affairs and planning program shares knowledge through events, presentations, publications, a website and media outreach.

Discovery – A significant mission of the Urban Affairs and Planning program is research. It has pioneered new ways of understanding America’s metropolitan regions in terms of its geography, socio-economic structure, political composition, and development patterns. Together with the Metropolitan Institute (MI), the urban affairs and planning program shares current research – sometimes in real time – through MI’s web site, www.mi.vt.edu. This web site is second only to The Brookings Institution in “hits”.

Learning - The urban affairs and planning program provides experience for a number of graduate students. Institute staff supervises graduate student research and sit on graduate student committees. Together with MI, the Urban Affairs and Planning program also has a post-doctorate initiative that allows young scholars to hone their research and publication skills. Its faculty and staff also teaches numerous courses in urban affairs and planning especially in the areas of planning theory, development policy, land-use planning and growth management, public finance, geo-spatial analysis, among others. In addition, faculty members advise and manage about two dozen doctoral students whose work is related to the Institute’s mission.

Engagement — In addition to making data and interpretations available on the Web, public presentations address growth impacts, growth management, housing, and economic development, the urban affairs and planning faculty are sought routinely to share their insights in these and other subjects to public agencies, conferences and symposia, professional and trade associations, and others throughout the U.S. and internationally. In addition, it has helped create the Planning Academy at Virginia Tech which is already the nation’s leading professional education provider in metropolitan policy.