Engaging in an internship during high school is a proven way to demonstrate serious commitment to professional development and intellectual curiosity. It allows you to take theoretical coursework from school and apply it analytically to real-world scenarios. For students interested in urban planning, these experiences provide early exposure to complex systems like zoning, transportation networks, and sustainable development. You gain tangible technical skills in design software and data analysis, distinguishing your portfolio for university admissions and future career placements.
Why should you choose an urban planning internship?
Securing a high school-level urban planning internship is an excellent way to gain practical experience in public policy, spatial design, and civic engineering. A good urban planning internship will require you to engage with the technical instruments of the trade, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), zoning code analysis, and community stakeholder mapping. You’ll also typically work alongside planners and architects to understand how regulations influence the built environment, gaining a granular understanding of the budgetary, environmental, and legal constraints that shape municipal development.
In this blog, we’ve put together 15 urban planning internships for high school students. If you want to learn about the underlying principles of architecture that build the foundation of urban planning, you could consider one of these internships as well. Or if it’s the art and design aspect of planning that interests you more, you could also check out these opportunities.
15 Urban Planning Internships for High School Students
1. Chicago Architecture Center (CAC) Teen Fellows
Location: Harold Washington College, Chicago, IL
Cost: Free! The program has a paid internship component in the final summer.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: This is a 15-month program stretching from June – May, with the internship component taking place in the 2nd summer
Application Deadline: March 31
Eligibility: Sophomores, juniors, and seniors attending high school in Chicago
This rigorous 15-month fellowship offers an opportunity to explore careers in architecture and design through three semesters of studio work and field research. You will develop competency in architectural drafting, physical model making, and urban design principles while visiting architecture firms and architecturally significant sites. You will attend college courses at Harold Washington College (HWC) and earn credits through City Colleges of Chicago. Additionally, you’ll gain proficiency in essential software for architecture and urban planning, including Sketch-up, AutoCAD, Rhinoceros, Revit, Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. This 15-month fellowship concludes with a paid summer internship at a local architecture or planning firm, allowing you to work on real projects. You will graduate with a well-rounded design portfolio and a thorough understanding of civic planning processes.
2. Project Pull (San Francisco Public Works)
Location: San Francisco, CA
Cost: No cost; you earn $23/hour stipend
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Highly selective, varies by department
Dates: June 8 – July 31
Application Deadline: February 13
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors, seniors, or graduating seniors who live or attend school in San Francisco and have a minimum 2.75 GPA
Sponsored by the City and County of San Francisco, this is one of the few municipal programs that pairs high schoolers directly with civil service professionals in departments like Public Works and the Public Utilities Commission. This is a professional internship where you will shadow the teams responsible for the city’s capital projects. You will be introduced to careers in the public sector, gaining insight into how water systems, streetscapes, and public facilities are actually maintained and upgraded. You leave with a practical grasp of the engineering and bureaucratic networks that allow a dense urban center to function.
3. High Line Fellows: Emerging Leaders Program
Location: New York, NY
Cost: No cost; you will be paid $18/hour for up to 200 hours per year
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: 3-year program extending from sophomore through senior year
Application Deadline: Usually in the spring, keep an eye on the website for details
Eligibility: NYC high school students starting their sophomore year
The High Line Fellows’ Emerging Leaders Program is a three-year support initiative designed to create the best first-job experience for talented high schoolers in NYC. Each year, you will choose two of the four tracks to pursue, including the “Civic Engagement” pathway, where you analyze the social and economic impact of public spaces on urban communities. You will participate in participatory budgeting processes, conduct neighborhood surveys, and collaborate with the Neighbors Council to program public events. Throughout the internship, you will also receive leadership development training, career awareness and readiness, and benefit from mentorship and networking opportunities.
4. US Department of Transportation (DOT) Pathways Internship Program
Location: Washington, D.C. and various field offices
Cost: No cost; these are paid internships
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Varies by placement
Dates: September 30 – January 18
Application Deadline: August 11
Eligibility: U.S. Citizens, enrolled in high school, at least 16 years old
If you want an entry point into the Federal government and understand how transportation impacts urban planning, this is a strong option to consider. As a trainee in the federal transportation sector, you’ll be supporting projects related to highway administration, aviation, or transit infrastructure. Assignments could involve data entry, policy research, and attending technical briefings that shape national transportation standards. You gain insight into the federal regulatory framework governing urban mobility and develop professional competencies in government correspondence and compliance analysis.
5. Boston Society for Architecture (BSA) High School Design Education / Internship
Location: Boston, MA
Cost: No cost; these are paid internships
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 6 – August 14
Application Deadline: Applications open February 20 and close when full
Eligibility: Rising sophomores, juniors, seniors, and graduating seniors from Boston Public Schools
This program bridges design education with professional practice by pairing you with local architecture and planning firms for a six-week paid placement. You will provide drafting support, site analysis, or model-building assistance while attending weekly workshops on design thinking and career readiness. You’ll also be taking neighborhood tours to engage with the city’s architecture, and you’ll complete the summer experience with a firm crawl and a share of your work.
6. Design Hive at Cooper Hewitt
Location: New York, NY
Cost: No cost; you earn a $2,000 stipend over the duration of the program
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: December 2 – May 19
Application Deadline: Typically in the Fall, keep an eye on the website for details
Eligibility: NYC high school juniors and seniors
In this youth-led initiative at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, you will learn the design process by developing your own collaborative project. You’ll use the museum’s vast collection to study historical design solutions and apply contemporary methods such as prototyping and user experience testing. The program comprises weekly Tuesday-after-school workshops that provide the theoretical foundation needed to design your own work. This program helps you develop project management and collaborative design skills essential for modern urban planning practice.
7. UC Berkeley embARC Summer Design Academy
Location: Berkeley, CA
Cost: $5,193 tuition + optional $5,300 for housing and meals. A limited number of needs-based scholarships are available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Cohort of ~100
Dates: July 6 – July 31
Application Deadline: February 17
Eligibility: Rising high school seniors (and exceptional juniors) at least 16 years old with a GPA of 3.0 or higher
This intensive four-week course offers college-level exposure to architecture, urban design, and sustainable city planning at one of the country’s top universities. You’ll work on a community-focused design-build project while learning digital fabrication tools and drafting techniques in the College of Environmental Design’s studios. By the end of the course, you’ll have produced a college-ready portfolio piece and will have secured credit on an official UC Berkeley transcript.
8. Cornell University City Visionaries Program
Location: Ithaca, NY
Cost: $13,000; Limited needs-based scholarships are available for high-achieving students.
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 6 – August 7
Application Deadline: February 27 for early | April 17 for regular
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors, aged 16-18
Offered through Cornell’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, this course focuses on the methodologies and processes involved in designing cities. You will engage in seminars and case studies that explore the history of urban projects in Manhattan, the theory of design planning, and how constituencies are affected and connected. You will develop critical reading and writing skills, alongside visual analysis techniques, to deconstruct how cities function and evolve, and you will leave with your own folio of analytical and speculative works.
9. Fallingwater High School Residency: Sustainability and Architecture
Location: Mill Run, PA
Cost: $1,500 per week; full tuition scholarships are available via the ACE Mentor Program
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: Multiple one-week sessions stretching from June 29 – August 14, depending on the chosen specialization track
Application Deadline: Typically around spring
Eligibility: Students entering grades 9-12
The Fallingwater Institute offers a series of one-week workshops across a variety of disciplines within architecture and urban planning, such as Interior Design, Sustainability and Architecture, or even Biophilic Design. You will work in the fully equipped Cheteyan Studio at High Meadow, doing daily studio exercises involving hand-drawing, site analysis, and environmental modeling to understand the relationship between structure and landscape. There will also be academic discussions on the principles and application of organic architecture.
10. SCI-Arc Design Immersion Days (DID)
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Cost: $3,350
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: June 15 – July 10
Application Deadline: Rolling
Eligibility: High school students
This four-week summer program introduces you to the experimental design culture of Los Angeles through a combination of analog and digital workflows. If you want to learn 3D modeling, 3D printing, analog physical building, or software such as Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator, and more, this program can be a strong fit. The curriculum emphasizes non-linear design thinking and visual storytelling, teaching you to conceive designs through both physical and virtual workflows.
11. Columbia University Introduction to Architecture for High School Students
Location: Remote
Cost: $4,590; a few need-based scholarships are available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 6 – August 7
Application Deadline: Rolling between January and June
Eligibility: Students entering grades 10-12
This digital studio course teaches you to navigate the intersection of physical and virtual environments using industry-standard design software. You’ll learn to use online design platforms to create meaningful spaces, applying architectural principles across both physical and virtual environments. You’ll also gain an understanding of design thinking through presentations and discussions led by professional architects and designers. By the end of the program, you’ll learn to build your own digital design portfolio for future college applications.
12. UCLA TeenArch Studio
Location: Los Angeles, CA or Remote
Cost: $3,457 for commuter | $2,481 for remote
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: June 22 – July 10
Application Deadline: June 12
Eligibility: Current high school students in grades 9-12 aged 15 years or older
In this UCLA Summer Session, you will engage in a high-intensity studio environment that mimics the rigor of a top-tier undergraduate architecture program. Each year, the studio’s focus changes; the latest sessions emphasize the use of soft versus hard materials at an architectural scale. The curriculum includes diagrammatic drawing, physical models, 3D modeling, and other urban planning fundamentals. As a concluding assignment, you’ll have to use your drawings and models to design a studio extension in the courtyard in front of UCLA AUD’s Perloff Hall, providing a hands-on application of urban planning and architectural principles.
13. USC Exploration of Architecture
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Cost: $11,750 for residential | $8,130 for commuter
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: June 22 – July 17
Application Deadline: May 8
Eligibility: Current high school students
This 4-week program serves as an introduction to architecture, design thinking, and its applications to the built world and urban planning. You study the fundamentals of design and composition and apply them to projects that require iterative testing and evaluation of spatial proposals. You build a vocabulary of basic ordering principles and heighten your three-dimensional spatial awareness through model making and graphic analysis.
14. Cooper Union Introduction to Architecture Summer Intensive
Location: New York, NY
Cost: $2,980
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 6 – August 7
Application Deadline: June 1
Eligibility: High school students
In this program, you’ll get to utilize the studio facilities of one of the most prestigious architecture schools in the country to explore scale, program, and habitation. The curriculum focuses on foundational design exercises that require you to draw, model, and critique architectural forms in a collaborative setting. You’ll gain proficiency in manual drafting and physical model construction, emphasizing precision and material understanding.
15. Pratt Institute PreCollege: Architecture
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Cost: $8,192 for residential | $5,452 for commuter
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Not specified
Dates: July 6 – 31
Application Deadline: May 1
Eligibility: High school students aged 16-18
Located in a hub of urban manufacturing and design, this program introduces you to architectural concepts through the lens of sustainable design. You’ll understand the theoretical concepts of architecture and how to incorporate them to create abstract and concrete representations of 3D space and systems. You’ll learn how these principles are applied at scale and model multiple scales of form, space, and material in various media. If you want to learn the fundamentals of architecture and design and how they apply in the practical setting of urban planning, this course can be a solid option.
One more option – Horizon Academic Research Program
If you’re looking for a competitive mentored research program in subjects like urban planning, sustainable cities, public policy, transportation systems, or spatial data analysis, consider applying to Horizon’s Research Seminars and Labs! This is a selective virtual research program that lets you engage in advanced research and develop a research paper on a subject of your choosing. Horizon has worked with 1000+ high school students so far and offers 600+ research specializations for you to choose from. You can find the application link here!
Image Source – Pratt Institute