Higher Education for Urban Planning in Brazil: Practical and Theoretical Challenges

Unlike North American or European countries, in Brazil the profession of urban planner is not officially recognized and lacks regulatory bodies. There are no undergraduate programs in urban planning; the title is obtained only at the graduate level, due to its recognized interdisciplinary nature.

The absence of professionalization in urban planning is both a cause and a consequence of the historical dominance of graduates in architecture and urbanism in this activity. The adequacy of this often-elitist qualification in addressing the significant Brazilian urban problems has been questioned, as well as their assumptions about the causes and solutions to the urban crisis.

The National Association of Research and Graduate Studies in Urban and Regional Planning (ANPUR), which represents multidisciplinar postgraduate training programs before funding agencies and society at large, plays a role as a "chancellor" of the field, promoting themes, authors and approaches that gain recognition in Brazil and abroad. The Association focuses on issues of education, research and also "university extension" through events, awards, and its periodic journal.

But the actions of ANPUR have not been sufficient to face the challenges to the institutionalization of urban planning in Brazil. It concerns the label market, the real estate market, even more so to the very conception of the university's role in a country where access to higher education has been severely limited.

In addition to mobilizing material on higher education an urban planning, this article aims to inquire representatives from academic and professional institutions, both public and private in Brazil, in order to respond what are the theoretical-practical competencies required for urban planners in Brazil today and to correlate the answer with the social position of the interviewees.

The research deepens the doctoral thesis defended by the author, which investigated the trajectory of the ANPUR, utilizing Pierre Bourdieu's critical sociology framework.