While addressing Urban and Regional Planning 215: Welcome to Your Urban Future students in a guest lecture during her senior year, Mia Chapman ’23 impressed on the students that all change – no matter how big or small – is worth pursuing.
“Policy and government can exist at many levels – all the way from grassroots organizations to federal policy change,” Chapman said. “Change is important at all levels.”
After completing four internships related to urban issues and policy and gaining a bachelor’s of science degree in landscape and urban studies in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture, Chapman is confident that she wants to pursue housing policy in her professional career.
She credits her own time in the ‘Welcome to Your Urban Future’ course as a freshman with clarifying her future career goals.
“It was just a great foundation,” Chapman said. “It’s just a good opportunity to be able to figure out what you are interested in and then be able to gain more experience.”
The course was created by UniverCity Alliance (UCA) in partnership with the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture to continue connecting a growing community of people on campus looking to improve their communities. UCA is a network of interdisciplinary leaders across UW–Madison who are inspired to improve local governments and foster innovation in communities of all sizes.
“The Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture is pleased to offer excellent instruction that provides students opportunities to pick up knowledge and skills to realize their aspirations and make a difference in their communities,” said Alfonso Morales, who is the chair of the department and a member of the UCA Advisory Board.
Throughout the course, students hear from faculty and city leaders across a broad range of topics that include development, sustainability, community engagement in a digital age, inequity in cities, social services, transportation, housing and education.
Nathan Larson, senior outreach specialist in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture, taught the course in the spring 2023 semester.
“The central question that students in this course consider is, ‘How can we, both individually and collectively, work to improve urban life for everyone into the future?’” Larson said. “Mia astutely explored this question during her excellent guest lecture through illuminating anecdotes and sage advice about her academic and vocational journey.”
Chapman said she appreciated understanding the range of roles that contribute to placemaking and cities.
“The class demonstrates that there’s a lot of different professions that make up the entire sector,” Chapman said. “There’s a lot of moving parts when it comes to what I think of as urban planning or the functions of a city.”
Chapman also credited the class with getting connected to professionals in the community who opened her eyes to different career paths and internship opportunities.
During her undergraduate career, Chapman interned at the Middleton-based commercial architecture firm Sketchworks, worked as a housing specialist with Common Wealth Development, and gained experience as a public policy intern for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She also was a project assistant within the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture.
Chapman said these experiences emphasized the importance of evaluating change at a system level when approaching urban problems.
“It’s important to learn about the history behind how systems and laws were created to influence the built environment and, consequently, how the built environment influences social outcomes,” Chapman said.
Now, Chapman is working as a housing and community development intern with the National League of Cities in Washington, D.C. Enrolling in Urban and Regional Planning 215: Welcome to Your Urban Future piqued an interest that is growing into a passion.
“Since I took Urban and Regional Planning 215, I have just been able to grow more and more passionate about my work in housing and housing policy,” Chapman said.
—Abigail Becker