Careers › Built environment

How to become a Urban & Regional Planner

Plans how towns and cities grow - housing, transport, public space.

This needs more than the degree

Registration as a professional planner (with SACPLAN) generally follows further experience and board requirements after your degree – check the current rules with SACPLAN.

What does a Urban & Regional Planner actually do?

More about this career

Works on how towns and cities actually grow – zoning, housing, transport routes, public space – usually for a municipality, a government department or a planning consultancy. It’s part technical (maps, data, regulations) and part political, since plans go through public participation and council approval.

Where this degree can take you

  • Transport Planner
  • GIS Analyst
  • Housing Policy Analyst
  • Environmental Planner

This is our general description of the role and related jobs, not from an official source – it’s here to give you a fuller picture, not as a careers-counselling guarantee.

Not from an official source

Subjects that usually help

  • Mathematics
  • Geography (helpful)

This is our general guidance about which school subjects suit this career. It is not an admission requirement and not from an official source – the real requirements are on the degrees below.

Not from an official source

Where to check this yourself

What the programmes we’ve captured actually ask for

  • Mathematics – asked for by 6 of 10 programmes
  • Technical Mathematics – asked for by 2 of 10 programmes
  • Geography – asked for by 1 of 10 programmes
  • Physical Sciences – asked for by 1 of 10 programmes

Counted from the requirements below (an “or” alternative counts for each subject named). Each programme links to the page it came from.

Programmes that lead here

10 programmes at 10 universities. More are added as we verify them.

Durban University of Technology

No cut-off published

Bachelor of the Built Environment in Urban and Regional Planning

Engineering & the Built Environment · 3 years

No points cut-off published for this one – see the note below.

  • English: level 4 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Two of four subjects – Two of Geography, History, Life Sciences or Physical Sciences at level 4 or better.
  • One more subject – One further 20-credit, non-language subject at level 4 or better.

Raw-confirmed 2026-10-04 against the DUT 2027 Study Opportunities entry-requirements table (subject levels match). Read directly from DUT’s own career leaflet - no single APS number is stated, only these subject minimums. From DUT’s 2027 Study Opportunities prospectus. Applications go through the CAO (cao.ac.za), not directly to DUT; general closing date 30 September 2026 (fee R250 SA / R300 international).

Source: View the official page (dut.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

North-West University

BSc in Urban and Regional Planning

Natural & Agricultural Sciences · 4 years

NWU APS 28 points out of 48

  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more) OR Technical Mathematics: level 5 (60% or more)
  • Selection test – A selection test applies; applications close 30 June, late applications are considered on merit.

Raw-confirmed 2026-10-04 against the user-supplied NWU 2026 Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences yearbook (admission-requirements tables). Potchefstroom campus. NQF level 8. NWU adds your six best subjects (excluding Life Orientation) on an 8-point scale, for a total out of 48 - read from NWU’s own APS calculator. The requirement shown is what NWU publishes.

Source: View the official page (studies.nwu.ac.za) (opens the official page)

Stellenbosch University

Selection programme

BA in Development and the Environment

Arts and Social Sciences · 3 years

Stellenbosch aggregate 63 %

  • Language – Home Language 50% and First Additional Language 40%.

Read 2026-10-04 from the Stellenbosch 2027 Undergraduate Prospectus (page images). The number shown is the NSC aggregate (excluding Life Orientation). Page 4. Mathematics 60% is needed if you take Economics as a university subject. Extended programme available at the Faculty’s discretion. Every Stellenbosch programme is a selection programme. The figures shown are the published minimum requirements - the actual selection threshold is usually higher.

Source: View the official page (files.su.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Johannesburg

Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning

Engineering & the Built Environment · 3 years

UJ APS 27 points

  • English: level 4 if it is your Home Language, level 4 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 5 (60% or more) OR Technical Mathematics: level 5 (60% or more)
  • Geography: level 5 (60% or more)

Read from the 2027 UJ Undergraduate Prospectus, page 61, programme code B6UP0Q. Physical Science is not required; Geography at level 5 (60%+) is.

Source: View the official page (uj.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of KwaZulu-Natal

From an older document

BSocSc Housing

Humanities · 3 years

UKZN APS 28 points out of 48

  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)
  • One listed subject – One subject from UKZN’s designated list at level 5 (Business Studies, Consumer Studies, Dramatic Arts, Economics, Geography, History, Information Technology, Life Sciences, Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy at level 2, Music, Religion Studies, Visual Arts, or a language at Home or First Additional level 5).

Read 2026-10-04 from the table in the Study@UKZN 2026 brochure (CAO code KN-H-SOR); published APS range 48-28. This comes from the Study@UKZN 2026 brochure, the most recent official source we could find. UKZN had not published a 2027 table when we checked, so treat these as 2026 figures pending a 2027 update. Applications go through the CAO.

Source: View the official page (studyatukzn.ukzn.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of Pretoria

Bachelor of Town and Regional Planning

Engineering, Built Environment & IT · 4 years

UP APS 27 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)

From the user-supplied EBIT 2027 Faculty Yearbook (programme code 12132026). Most UP closing dates are 30 June; Veterinary Science closes 31 May. Grade 12 applicants apply with their final Grade 11 results.

Source: View the official page (drupalwebprod-files.up.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of South Africa

No cut-off published

Bachelor of Administration in Human Settlements Management

Economic & Management Sciences

No points cut-off published for this one – see the note below.

  • English: 50%

Read 2026-10-04 from Unisa’s own qualification page (code 90016 – HSM). NSC with Bachelor’s Degree endorsement (or equivalent). Unisa states percentages, not an APS, on this page. Confirmed current for the 2027 intake: Unisa’s own pages state its 2027 application window as 17 August - 9 October 2026.

Source: View the official page (unisa.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of the Witwatersrand

Urban & Regional Planning

Engineering & the Built Environment · 3 years

Wits APS 36 points

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 5 (60% or more)

Confirmed unchanged by a direct fetch of the 2027 course-finder page (2026-10-02 spot-check). APS 30-35 is wait-listed subject to place availability.

Source: View the official page (wits.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Venda

Not fully verified

Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning

Science, Engineering and Agriculture · 4 years

Univen APS 35

  • Physical Sciences: level 5 (60% or more)
  • Mathematics: level 5 (60% or more)
  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Three more subjects – At least three of Agricultural Sciences, Accounting, Life Sciences, Economics and Geography at level 4 or better.

Raw-read 2026-10-04 from Univen’s 2027 Undergraduate Prospectus (April 2026), faculty programme tables. The prospectus text lists the level-5 subjects in a jumbled order; Physical Sciences and Mathematics are shown here. Online applications are free and run 1 May - 30 September 2026.

Source: View the official page (univen.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Zululand

From an older document

Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Planning and Development

Humanities & Social Sciences · 3 years

UniZulu APS 26 points out of 48

  • English: level 4 if it is your Home Language, level 4 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Designated subjects – Level 4 (50-59%) in five subjects from the designated list: Business Studies, Dramatic Arts, Geography, History, Tourism, Visual Art, and languages (a language of learning and teaching plus two other recognised languages).

Read 2026-10-04 from UniZulu’s 2026 Humanities & Social Sciences handbook (Table 1): minimum entry for a Bachelor’s degree is 26 points. From UniZulu’s own 2026-labelled faculty handbooks, which contain no 2027-specific intake or closing-date information at all - do not assume a date, and treat this as the most recent official figures available rather than confirmed-current for 2027.

Source: View the official page (unizulu.ac.za) (opens the official page)

Are your marks enough?

Put your subjects in once and we’ll check them against every programme above – scored each university’s own way.

What do I qualify for?