Diversifying Planning Education through Course Readings

Abstract

We investigate diversity in urban planning education by analyzing the gender and race/ethnicity of authors who are assigned on reading lists for urban sustainability courses. Using a sample of 772 readings from thirty-two syllabi, we find that assigned authors are even less diverse than planning faculty. Female authors account for 28 percent of assigned readings on the syllabi, and authors of color for 20 percent. Wide variation between courses suggests that a paucity of potential readings is not the main constraint. We urge instructors to revisit or “decolonize” their course syllabi and think critically about whose voices students are taught to hear.