He grew up in the small Texas community of West, approximately 20 miles north of Waco. He attended Texas A&M University and graduated in February, 1931, with a major in architectural design and a minor in landscape architecture. From 1931 to 1934, he was the campus landscape architect and inspector of landscape construction at Texas A&M University, and then in 1934 1935, he pursued graduate work on a fellowship in landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts. 

In 1935 and 1936 he was regional landscape architect for the United States Department of Agriculture based in their Dallas office before assuming the role of teacher of landscape maintenance with the San Antonio Public Schools and San Antonio Parks Department. He returned to Texas A&M in 1940 to serve as assistant professor in the Department of Landscape and Architecture. His stay in this position was curtailed in 1944 by a tour of duty with the United States Navy. At the conclusion of World War II, he served from 1945 to 1949 as regional landscape architect for the Veteran's Administration Hospitals in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. 

Urbanovsky accepted the position of head of the Department of Horticulture and Park Management at Texas Technological College (later Texas Tech) in 1949. By the time he retired, a quarter century later, Texas Tech had become a university and his position had evolved to chairman of the Department of Park Administration, Landscape Architecture and Horticulture.  During his tenure, the department gained a national reputation through its research studies and the performance of its more than 600 graduates. 

Urbanovsky strived to instill pride and professionalism in students, and to train them broadly in all aspects of park resource management. His curriculum was designed to prepare graduates to be equally at ease in the boardroom and in the remote back country of a large wilderness park. He challenged them to learn the skills and strategies of implementation; to acquire the savvy to succeed in a complex political-economic environment and in so doing, get the job done.  His students, many of whom went on to fill senior positions across the nation in all types of natural resource management entities, consistently attested to the success and effectiveness of his educational philosophy.  A colleague observed, “We will not remember Professor Urbanovsky by his books and writings, for these are indeed few.  Rather, we will see for years to come in his students throughout the country a living testimony to his message.” 

During his quarter century at Texas Tech, he also served as the campus landscape architect and master planner. When Urbanovsky was hired in 1949 to plan and improve the look of the Texas Tech campus, the more than 2,000 acre site was a dusty plain, with few trees and only scattered patches of grass. Parking lots were mud holes during a rain. Trash was breeding trash along the outskirts of the campus. Weeds were so high in places that buildings were partially hidden. One of his peers said Urbanovsky was “a man who lived by action and accomplishment rather than trite words.  He does not fit the conventional model of the esoteric academic scholar and writer. His world is the very real world of people and institutions.”  He became famous on the campus for his endless demands for improvements, so much so that students and other faculty members often quoted a poem written about him. The poem said: 

When Elo said, "Let there be grass," there was grass

and when Elo said, "let there be trees," there were trees

Elo then said, "Let there be flowers," and they came

Then Elo said, "Well, that's pretty good but I got another idea last night and I..." 

By the time he retired, the campus was one of the most beautiful in the country.  In naming him an honorary member of the Texas Society of Architects, the highest honor the Society can bestow, one society member said, "There is no question that the beauty of the campus as it is enjoyed...has inspired untold numbers to improve their own environment off campus." 

Urbanovsky believed that nature and plant life were the best catalyst for helping people to understand each other.  To demonstrate his point Urbanovsky told the story of a group of men, all from different countries, who had gathered for a convention in Paris.  "We were in a garden outside of Paris and one of the gentlemen saw a rose that caught his eye and he began to tell everyone about it.  Even though none of those men could speak the same language, they all could understand what the other was saying about that rose.  Heck, even a mesquite bush can pull us all together if we want it to." 

Urbanovsky was a hard task master in the classroom, but he was a very human person with a deep sense of understanding and concern for people.  As one former student said, "he is a holy terror in the classroom but a real old softie."  This affection his students felt for him was often demonstrated, most obviously on those occasions when students applauded one of his classroom lectures.  Urbanovsky returned those feelings of affection for his students.  "It always makes you feel so good when one of them (a former student) comes back driving a Cadillac and you're still driving a Ford," he once observed with a smile. 

In 1965, Urbanovsky was described by the American Institute of Park Executives as “the most influential educator in the park management field today.” He was a member of the team who developed the national curriculum for qualifying as a landscape architect. Urbanovsky's character and abilities endeared him to many noteworthy people including the Rockefeller family, and President and Mrs. Lyndon B. Johnson.  Urbanovsky's influence was felt not only by his actions but also through his character from which, Laurence Rockefeller said, there "ebbs an influence known for its determination, good judgment, design ability, appreciation for beauty and an ever-increasing imagination and desire to pass on to others the knowledge that is his."  Mr. Rockefeller was sufficiently impressed by his work that he awarded a $75,000 grant, which was matched by Elo Urbanovsky himself to establish the Elo J. and Olga Urbanovsky Fellowship Endowment to fund graduate students at Texas Tech who were pursuing graduate degrees in the area of land use planning, design, and management. By 2000 that endowment had grown to over $1 million. 

Of Lady Bird Urbanovsky said, "She's a lady in every sense of the word.  If I could pick a mommy, she'd be the woman I'd pick.  She's a vivacious woman with a keen interest in the outdoors."   Mrs. Johnson's interest in the outdoors led her to establish her beautification program during her stay in the White House and Urbanovsky served on her beautification committee for a 10 year period.  He also worked closely with her on beautification projects at the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch. 

Among the many contributions he made to professional organizations in the field were: president of the American Institute of Park Executives; member of the Board of Trustees of the National Recreation and Park Association; president of the Texas Turfgrass Association; and founder and for many years, director of the Southwest Park and Recreation Training Institutes at Texoma, which was still flourishing a quarter century after his retirement.  For two years, Urbanovsky was project director of a team which developed a cooperative plan for the Texas State Parks system. This plan guided state parks for the following two decades and was the basis for a major organizational restructuring of the agency.   

In recognition of his contributions to Texas Tech and his national leadership in the field, Urbanovsky was selected as one of the first Paul Whitfield Horn Professors on the Texas Tech campus in 1967. This was the highest honor the university could bestow on one of its faculty. In memory of his contributions Urbanovsky Park was established on the Texas Tech Campus.