Department Chair & Professor of Regional Planning
Department Mission Statement
The Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning (LARP) at UMass Amherst provides sustainable solutions to complex problems. We educate outstanding students, serve diverse communities, and undertake influential scholarship. We seek to exemplify a new generation of professionals and educators who work collaboratively across disciplines and cultures. This provides leadership to find regenerative, equitable and beautiful designs, spatial and social practices.
Our Commitment to Sustainability
To us, sustainable means strong, resilient ecosystems that will be able to adapt to climate change. Sustainable means healthy for people as well as animals and plants. Sustainable reduces resources used and the flow of wastes. Sustainable means equitable and inclusive of all ages, cultures, economic and social groups, and economically stable now and in the future. And sustainable means design and planning that creates communities and their spaces that are beautiful, meaningful, and engaging for the people who live in them.
An Education Backed by Professionals
Our landscape architecture and regional planning degree programs are fully accredited by their respective professional organizations. Accreditation means that our students earn degrees that are nationally and internationally recognized for their professional quality, promoting career success.
Areas of Excellence
The department has six areas of excellence in research, teaching, and creative work:
- Climate Change Adaptation & Landscape Resilience
- Regional & Greenway Planning
- Community Engagement & Social Justice
- Innovation & Economy
- Culture, Heritage & Society
- Design & Public Art
The Olver Design Building
LARP, the Department of Architecture, and the Building & Construction Technology program at UMass Amherst come together in the John W. Olver Design Building. This award-winning, LEED certified facility promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, research, and learning. Its unique cross-laminated timber structural system reduces its carbon footprint, embodying the university’s commitment to sustainability.
