In December 1970, the United Nations (UN) invited Dr. Sigurd Grava, the then chair of the Department of Urban Planning at Columbia University, to visit Taiwan to investigate its urban planning educational and training institutions. Since urban planning is a comprehensive planning practice that has to consider social, economic, natural, and cultural factors and is a professional training that emphasizes the development of students’ independent thinking capability, Dr. Grave suggested that NTU, with its facilities and resources, could provide comprehensive training in these areas. Accordingly, The Ministry of Education and NTU agreed to establish a graduate institute of urban Planning in the NTU campus. In 1975, Sheng-Tao Mao, the then chair of the Department of Civil Engineering at NTU, invited Dr. Hung-Kai Wang (PhD, Columbia University) to teach at his department. To be able to recruit students as soon as possible, Mao divided the existing Transportation Engineering division in the Graduate Institute of Civil Engineering into two divisions, in which the second division, Division B, became the Urban Planning Studio and started recruiting students in the Fall of of 1976. In 1977, Chu-Joe Hsia (Master of Architecture, Yale University and Master of Urban Design, Harvard University) joined the faculty of this newly-founded institute. In 1982, the Urban Planning Studio made significant changes in its enrollment procedures, curriculum, and academic structure. With the goal of training “cross disciplinary professionals”, it integrated the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urban planning to educate professionals equipped with the knowledge and skills in environmental planning, and social and cultural involvement, and able to adapt to the future development of the professions. The development of the Urban Planning Studio was primarily influenced by the interests and characteristics of Professors Wang and Hsia. Both of them were educated in renowned universities in the United States and were greatly influenced by the progressive movements in the 1960s. Their returns to Taiwan in the 1970s demonstrated their dedication to this country. Wang and Hsia’s passion was reflected in their works and researches. They hoped that their students would be able to not only think critically about the management of the physical environment, but also consciously examine, criticize and reform the social and culture contexts within which their professions situate. They also emphasized that a responsible professional should have the sense of responsibility, pay much attention to the ecological conditions of sites, care for the under-represented and disadvantaged groups, and engage in the preservation of local history and culture. In the summer of 1988, the Transportation Engineering Division B was separated from the Graduate Institute of Civil Engineering and became an independent institute named as the Graduate Institute of Building and Planning (GIBP). Dr. Hung-Kai Wang was appointed as the first chair. In 1990, GIBP further invited Prof. John Liu, who had been teaching at the University of California in the US, to oversee its newly-established professional service unit, the Planning Office. In 1991 GIBP established its doctoral program, and started recruiting doctoral students.