There was an 18 year old student writing in the Malaysian Transport and Planning Egroup that I subscribed to asking for opinion on whether he should take urban planning. The following is a personal message from me to him. Tell me whether I had given good advice or whether the way I gave the advice was okay....Hi there. I take interest in urban planning and the role of planners in our society. It is true that planners be they specialise in Transport, Urban (Physical) or even Strategic usually try to get jobs in government and I know personally quite a few of them myself. However I know quite a few of transport planners and urban planners that works as consultants and in their own companies. I think we do not have enough of them in Malaysia. I see that there will be a need for people in this sector because we are increasingly being urbanised. I am trained as an architect, but I see myself needing to have an interdisciplinary outlook. I need to know about planning as much as I need to know about construction. But at the same time we also need to specialise. It has to do with our Information Age where it is not just information that we are getting but how to use the information. I do not see myself solving just problems in Malaysia but also in the Asian and the Pacific region. In fact my study is based on the UK case studies which I know will help me understand the Asian and the Pacific situation better.

The world is getting smaller.

I think you can also start with a more solid course like civil engineering and architecture and expand on your interest in urban planning later. But you must like DESIGN. Design occurs in both civil engineering and architecture. Architecture would be better for you so that you can easily branch out to urban planning. Best place to study urban planning is in USA such as MIT if you can afford it. But I am sure there are other places.If you take architecture, they will only expose you to urban planning in your 4th and 5th year.

All the best.