Urban and Environmental Planning

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Undergraduate students entering the School of Architecture share a Common First Year in the School of Architecture curriculum. Students take core courses in Architectural History, Architecture, and Urban and Environmental Planning to provide a framework for the study of contemporary culture through observation, analysis, and design of built and natural environments. Students must pass each core course with a grade of C- or higher. During the spring semester of the first year, students choose an intended major: Bachelor of Architectural History, Bachelor of Science Architecture, or Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning.

The Program in Urban and Environmental Planning balances professional planning skills and urban studies with a liberal arts education emphasizing interdisciplinary study. Students take courses in the social and natural sciences, the humanities, and in design fields that are complemented by professional planning and elective courses. Program graduates begin work in the public, private, or nonprofit sectors in urban and rural areas ranging from city and county planning offices to real estate and development firms to economic development agencies. Some students continue for graduate professional studies.

The scope of the planner’s work encompasses present and future urban and environmental concerns, including such diverse issues such as environmental impact, quality of life, urban design, transportation, and the public and private costs of development and land use. Public sector planners work for all levels of government, formulating plans to redevelop or rehabilitate downtowns and neighborhoods, develop land aesthetically and profitably, create sustainable transportation plans, and regulate private development and impact to protect public interests. Planners frame long-range designs and shorter-term strategies that meet community plans and goals. Private sector planners employed with land developers, utilities, banks, property management firms, industries, architectural and design firms and other major corporations do similar work according to the particular concerns of each business. Planners in the nonprofit sector represent a variety of environmental, citizen advocacy, and community and economic development organizations.  Many of these concerns are integrated with the department’s focus on sustainable community development, social equity, and environmental planning.

All undergraduates who complete their degree in good academic standing are invited to continue their studies and complete their graduate degree at UVA. Students who complete their 7th semester with a cumulative 3.3 GPA or higher are guaranteed direct admission into the corresponding graduate program. For direct entry into graduate programs in Architecture (MArch) and Landscape Architecture (MLA), undergraduate architecture students must also achieve a minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA in design studios. These graduates are also invited to defer their admission for two years allowing them to enroll immediately or in either of the next two entering classes. In this way, Historians and Planners can earn the graduate degree (MArH and MUEP) in five years, Architects earn a professional graduate degree (MArch or MLA) in six years. See Direct Admissions Policy.

Accreditation The undergraduate program in Urban and Environmental Planning is accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board, sponsored jointly by the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning.