The Environmental and Land Use Planning specialization offered by the Department of Urban and Regional Planning involves the study of how to use the planning process to resolve four broad sets of problems:
- minimizing the negative effects of environmental problems on human health and urban and regional systems;
- minimizing the negative effects of human settlements on ecosystems;
- planning for the remediation and restoration of natural systems; and
- planning the development of cities, suburbs, and rural areas to be sustainable.