CIP RPP Professional Exam study guide
CIP RPP Professional Exam · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
This page is an independent study resource for candidates preparing for the professional planning examination that sits at the centre of Canada's planning credential pathway - widely referenced as the Registered Professional Planner (RPP) Professional Examination and associated with the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP) and the provincial and territorial institutes and associations (PTIAs). Please note: this platform is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CIP, the Professional Standards Board, or any PTIA. The CIP RPP Professional Exam study guide has 5 sections and about 1,981 words.
01Planning Theory
Planning theory is less a single doctrine than a set of competing accounts of what planners do and should do. Learn the rational-comprehensive model (define goals, generate alternatives, evaluate, select, implement), Lindblom's disjointed incrementalism (successive limited comparisons), and Etzioni's mixed scanning (broad direction plus incremental steps).
283 words, about 1 min02History and Professional Ethics
Know the lineage: Howard's garden city, City Beautiful, Burnham, zoning's legal consolidation (Euclid v. Ambler in the United States; Canadian provinces adopted planning and zoning enabling law), CMHC's postwar role, suburban expansion, Jacobs's critique, environmental planning, New Urbanism, smart growth, and reconciliation-era planning.
286 words, about 1 min03Land Use Planning
Land-use planning allocates rights and expectations. Know official/comprehensive plans (policy direction), zoning bylaws (use, density, height, setbacks, parking), subdivision control, site plans, overlay zones, form-based codes, and development permits.
245 words, about 1 min04Policy and Regulation
Policy-making runs from agenda setting through formulation, adoption, implementation, and evaluation. Instruments include regulatory (bylaws, permits), fiscal (taxes, grants, charges), expenditure (infrastructure, services), and informational (guidance, monitoring).
237 words, about 1 min05Physical Planning, Design and Environmental Management
Physical planning translates policy into places. Know site planning (access, grading, servicing, orientation), streetscape and complete streets, block permeability, human-scale design, legibility, figure-ground analysis, and transitions between public and private space.
930 words, about 5 min