Methods Requirements

A wall displaying a timeline of the twentieth century in images and text panels.
Planning @ 100 Exhibition highlighting some of the key people and activities associated with planning education at Harvard.

Planning is both a process of inquiry and a mode of practice. Planners rely on a diverse set of methods to understand places, diagnose problems, and evaluate solutions. The methods curriculum equips students with the analytical, technical, and interpretive skills needed to make informed decisions in complex urban environments. Through training in quantitative analysis, qualitative inquiry, and spatial methods, students learn how to collect, analyze, visualize, and communicate evidence that can guide decision-making.

Students must complete four units of coursework in each of the three methods areas—a total of 12 units—unless they can demonstrate sufficient prior experience to waive a requirement.  Students complete Analytic Methods in their first semester, while they have the flexibility to complete their Economic and Legal & Institutional Methods in any term.

Analytic Methods

Students complete a total of 4 units of Analytic Methods of Urban Planning in their first semester by completing two 2-unit modules of Quantitative Methods (SES 5215) and Qualitative Methods (SES 5216).

Quantitative Methods introduces data analysis and research methods for urban planning. Students learn basic descriptive statistics, principles of statistical inference, and key techniques such as z‑tests, t‑tests, ANOVA, chi‑square tests, correlation, and multivariate regression. Emphasis is placed on practical application and on critically interpreting quantitative analyses in planning and related fields.

Qualitative Methods emphasizes hands-on learning—such as artifact review, observation and ethnography, interviewing, group engagement, and visual techniques—for collecting, analyzing, and presenting data. It emphasizes the ethics of conducting research with and in communities.

Economic Methods

Economic methods provide planners with the tools to understand how markets allocate land, housing, labor, and other scarce resources, as well as when and why those markets fail. Students learn to analyze the economic forces that shape urban development, evaluate the causes and consequences of market failures such as externalities, public goods, and information asymmetries, and assess the likely impacts of planning interventions. Coursework emphasizes the use of economic reasoning to evaluate tradeoffs, anticipate behavioral responses to regulation and investment, measure costs and benefits, and design policies that promote more efficient, equitable, and sustainable urban outcomes. These methods prepare planners to critically assess proposals ranging from zoning reform and affordable housing programs to transportation investments, environmental regulation, and economic development initiatives.

Approved Economic Methods Courses

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Legal and Institutional Methods

Legal and institutional methods prepare planners to understand the legal frameworks, governance structures, and public institutions that shape urban development. Students examine influential laws, regulations, and administrative processes, including those affecting property rights, zoning, environmental regulation, and public participation. They evaluate how institutional design affects planning outcomes. Particular emphasis is placed on managing environmentally sensitive lands, designing and assessing growth management strategies, and exploring regulatory innovation in response to challenges such as climate change. Students develop the capacity to craft policies that are adaptable and effective in advancing public interests.

Approved Legal and Institutional Methods Courses

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