Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning Master's Degree Requirements

Program | Faculty | Master's | Doctoral | Courses

Landscape Architecture Program (M.L.A. Degree)

The M.L.A. program is based on the concept that landscape architecture is a social art, which is: 1) drawn from both the visual arts and the physical and natural sciences; 2) realized through a variety of materials, processes, and techniques; and 3) shaped by a tradition.

Curriculum

The Landscape Architecture master's program, a professional degree program accredited by the American Society of Landscape Architects, is designed to serve three groups of people. The first are those who have discovered an interest in landscape architecture after earning a college degree in another field. These individuals take a year of preparatory courses and then an additional 48 credits toward their master's degree.

The second group are those who have earned a college degree in a strongly related field such as environmental design or architecture. These students enter into the second year, but often need to take several of the core requirements of the first year preparatory curriculum in lieu of second- and third-year electives.

The third group already have degrees in landscape architecture. These students usually enter the master's program to expand their knowledge in a special area of individual concentration.

Areas of Individual Concentration

To encourage and support students interested in, and qualified for, advanced work, the faculty have identified the following areas of concentration based on faculty research and professional expertise. Advanced students with appropriate background experience may substitute for certain courses others which support the area of concentration selected.

The four areas of concentration are:

1. Ecological Landscape Planning and Design. This concentration engages ecological pattern and its associated processes across a range of spatial scales. It addresses current environmental and ecological issues such as greenway planning, water resource planning, biodiversity, and brownfields.

2. Design and Management of Cultural Landscapes. This concentration engages the history and theory of the built environment and its role in contemporary design. It addresses current issues in landscape preservation and design such as varying treatments of cultural landscapes, and ecological and cultural revelatory design philosophies.

3. Urban Planning, Policy and Design. This concentration engages the economic, social, and cultural aspects of the urban experience. It addresses the roles of policy makers, planners, designers, and citizens in shaping the urban fabric in small to medium-sized cities.

4. Applications of Information Technology to Planning and Design. This concentration engages the ways in which the planning design professions are being transformed by contemporary information technology. It addresses the role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Computer Aided Design (CAD) and multimedia.

Regional Planning Program (M.R.P. Degree)

The M.R.P. degree program provides the theoretical and applied knowledge necessary to enter a career in urban and regional planning. The curriculum integrates studies of the physical, environmental, social, cultural, economic, and political facets of planning at all scales: urban, suburban, and rural. Studios in which students undertake projects for clients are a central part of the program.

There are no prerequisites for the program. Students come from a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds, including the arts, natural sciences, social sciences, design, and the humanities. The program is designed to balance core requirements with individual interests.

The Curriculum

The M.R.P. is a two-year program. Students take a set of core courses, guided electives within their area of concentration, and additional electives of their choice. These are described below.

Core Requirements

Core requirements prepare students for more advanced planning classes. They provide basic knowledge in the following areas:

1. Planning concepts, theories, philosophies and history, planning theory.

2. Techniques associated with planning; quantitative, computer, cartographic, air photo surveys.

3. The built environment: recognition of opportunities and constraints, and understanding the environmental consequences of land use activities.

4. The political, legal, institutional, and bureaucratic setting of planning.

5. The economic and fiscal implications of planning.

6. The social, cultural, and perceptual implications of planning.

7. "Plan-making" through studio studies, theses, and terminal projects.

Concentrations

In addition to the core courses, all students take at least three courses within an area of concentration. This enables each student to have one or more areas of specialization within the larger interdisciplinary planning program and ensures that everyone has sufficient background to undertake advanced research on a final project or thesis. In special cases, students may create a concentration of their own with the approval of the program director. The four areas of concentration are:

1. Built Environment. This concentration focuses on social, political, and cultural analyses of the built environment. It is concerned with exploring different social and cultural responses to the built environment, analyzing policy, planning, and design criteria for building more responsible urban forms, and intervening in discriminatory practices. Topics of study include domestic and international analyses of housing policy, urban development, land use, urban form, urban design, spatial relations, and social change.

2. Economic and Community Planning. This concentration focuses on understanding the economic and social pressures facing communities, and strategies for building local and regional economies. It explores issues such as how towns, cities, and regions will survive in a globalizing economy, and how towns and cities build communities in periods of boom and decline. Topics of study include industrial planning, regional analysis, social planning and social impact assessment, public and private finance, land-use planning, and spatial analysis. The Center for Economic Development provides opportunites for applied research.

3. Environmental Policy and Planning. This concentration focuses on crucial components of environmental policy and planning. It explores policy formation and the planning process at the local, state, national, and international levels as they relate to environmental degadation and preservation. Topics of study include economic, social, political, ethical, and legal dimensions of environmental policy and planning.

4. Information Technology in Planning. This concentration focuses on policy formation, evaluation, and implementation as they are increasingly influenced by information contained in large databases that must be accessed, analyzed, and displayed with computers. To do this successfully requires not only skills with computer techniques, but also knowledge of what data are appropriate and how they may be interpreted and effectively presented. Topics of study include information technology courses with a particular focus on geographic information system technology.

Dual Degree Option in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning

A growing number of students have recognized the overlap between policy and design and have seen the importance of a strong link between the process and product of land development. The dual degree option combines the design and analysis of urban and rural landscapes with a concern for the social, political, regulatory, and economic factors that shape those landscapes. This option, which usually requires one year less study than taking the degrees one after the other, confers two separate degrees upon completion. The versatility which results from the blending of these two related fields can be a valuable asset for the student. Many public agencies and private consulting firms have preferred employing those students who have the dual skills this option offers.

Students who choose the dual degree option are expected to complete 78 credit hours and must file for both degrees at the same time. The courses taken must include the required courses of both programs.

Combined Degree in Law (J.D.) and Planning (M.R.P.)

Students may simultaneously complete a Juris Doctor degree from Western New England College School of Law in Springfield and a Master's of Regional Planning degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in four academic years rather than the five years it would take if the programs were pursued separately.

Students must spend their entire first year in either the Regional Planning program or the School of Law. The second year is normally spent full-time in the program not chosen the first year. Thereafter, the student will finish the degree requirements by spending entire semesters at either institution to complete remaining credits. Students are required to complete the core courses and mandatory academic requirements at each institution. In meeting these requirements, the combined program requires that each institution grant credit for one semester's work (12 credits) at the other institution. For the Regional Planning 48-credit program, 36 credits will be taken in the planning program, with law courses constituting the remaining 12 cross-credits for the M.R.P. degree. At the School of Law, the student must earn 88 credits to obtain a J.D. degree, with 12 of those credits earned from the Regional Planning program.

Those interested in this program must apply and gain admission to each school separately, a process which is facilitated through cooperation in the admissions process by both the Regional Planning program and the School of Law.