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Environmental Design
Environmental Design | Courses | LARP Faculty

109 Hills North

Degree: Bachelor of Science

Contact: Patricia McGirr

Office: 102 Hills North

Phone: 545-6621

E-mail: mcgirr@larp.umass.edu

The Field

As population density increases and natural resources are depleted and squandered, decisions affecting the sustainability and aesthetics of the land and other natural resources assume increased importance. Both the public and the private sectors must be involved if the challenge of balancing development pressures with environmental protection interests is to be realized. Traditionally, opportunities for specific professional involvement have been found in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and regional planning. Additional professional opportunities are available in the fields of horticulture, environmental law, real estate development, and many other disciplines that share an environmental concern. For professionals in related fields such as law, education, community development or finance, the sound theoretical understanding of environmental issues gained through the environmental design program contributes and informs land use decision making processes and values.

The Major

The Environmental Design program provides a sound theoretical understanding of both environmental and human issues as a foundation of knowledge for a wide range of design and planning fields.

There is a demand, locally and globally, for concerned and knowledgeable individuals to enter the environmental design professions, and to oversee and direct the building of safer and more beautiful places in which to work and live. People from a wide range of design and planning fields - architects and landscape architects, lawyers, horticulturists, educators, private citizens on town zoning boards - are involved in this decision-making process to humanize cities, protect farm land, and conserve the wilds.

Through the four concentration options, the program provides historical, theoretical, and professional perspectives in the liberal arts and science fields, emphasizing environmental issues. This training enables graduates of the program to make informed and effective land-use decisions that can have a lasting impact on the built and natural environments.

The Curriculum

The Environmental Design curriculum offers an opportunity to satisfy University General Education requirements by taking courses with an environmental focus during the freshman and sophomore years. These include courses in Anthropology, Art, Botany, Biology, Economics, Geosciences, and Sociology. During the junior and senior years the curriculum is structured around a broad introduction to our natural and cultural environments. Through a series of core courses, students gain an understanding of the factors and processes needed to identify and evaluate solutions to environmental design problems. Environmental Design core courses taken during these years include Environmental Design History, Theory of Natural and Cultural Factors in Environmental Design, City Planning, and Urban Issues.

Areas of Concentration

This component of the curriculum provides the opportunity for students to engage in studies that support an area of interest related to the core environmental design curriculum.

These include the following studies: horticultural, landscape, urban, and built environment.

Students who choose to concentrate in Horticultural Studies learn how to apply sound ecological and scientific principles in conserving nature and adding beauty through the use of plants. This concentration combines the scientific knowledge of horticulture with the theoretical and practical aspects of landscape design, technology, and business management. Students learn to recognize the links between plants and humankind in the supportive role vegetation plays.

In the Landscape Studies concentration, students study landscape aesthetics and conservation. Learning from the past they examine how people have changed or modified their environments throughout history. Acting within a framework of sociological and ecological principles, landscape designers and planners seek ways to conserve or revitalize the contextual landscapes of existing communities.

The Urban Studies concentration explores the evolving life and forms of cities and towns and the behavior and problems of their residents. Students examine how communities evolve, flourish, and decline. The urban planner develops alternative methods of achieving community goals, anticipating developmental impacts, and planning for a sustainable future.

The Built Environment concentration has a pre-architecture studies focus. Students pursue their interest in the relationship between the environment and built forms.

The Minor

The minor in Environmental Design is intended for those students from related majors who share a concern for understanding the nature of environmental decision making. It is structured to expose students to the perceptual, historical, theoretical, and professional aspects of the field. The minor requires that five courses be completed from the core curriculum.

Environmental Design | Courses | LARP Faculty

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