Graduate Certificate - Sustainable Urban & Transportation Planning

The Sustainable Urban & Transportation Planning graduate certificate is an eight-month postgraduate program in how cities and transport networks are planned and built.

Coursework covers urban planning principles and the Ontario planning framework, land use policy and official plans, transportation planning and demand modelling, active transportation and transit-oriented development, sustainable community design, geographic information systems and spatial analysis, planning policy and legislation, environmental considerations in planning, public consultation and engagement, and development approvals processes.

The timing is good. Ontario is in a sustained period of transit expansion and intensification policy, municipalities and consultancies are hiring planning support, and GIS capability in particular is a scarce and immediately marketable skill. Note that full professional planner designation requires further qualification — this credential positions graduates for planning technician and analyst roles.

Newnham is Seneca’s largest campus, on Finch Avenue East in North York, with its own residence, library, athletic centre and specialised technical labs. It sits on the TTC network with subway connections, and carries the bulk of Seneca’s business, technology and engineering catalogue — which means the widest range of student clubs, services and peers of any Seneca site.

Seneca Polytechnic — formerly Seneca College — is one of Ontario’s largest public colleges and a Designated Learning Institution. Newnham is its biggest campus, on Finch Avenue East in North York, and carries the bulk of Seneca’s business, technology, engineering technology, aviation and applied science catalogue. It has its own residence, a large library and athletic centre, and sits on the TTC network with connections to the subway.

Its field maps to CIP 04.0301 (City and urban planning). Important: this is a college credential rather than a degree, so it is not exempt from the November 2024 PGWP field-of-study restriction — eligibility depends on this CIP field appearing on IRCC’s eligible list when you apply. Seneca publishes a PGWP-eligible program list; check it, and confirm with an Apply Study Visa counsellor before committing. IRCC makes the final decision.