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Urban Affairs & Planning
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Ph.D. in Planning, Governance, & Globalization:
Urban & Environmental Design & Planning Track

The Urban & Environmental Design & Planning track is based on the former Planning stream in EDP and accommodates EDP students working with faculty in Landscape Architecture.

Requirements:
Students must have preparation in the diverse theoretical literatures that define the field and in both quantitative/analytic and qualitative/field research methods, as well as training in research design. Accordingly, all students would take 12 credit hours of common core courses (all existing):

  • EDP 6104 Planning Theory Seminar - 3 credits. Planning epistemology and theory. This seminar traces the epistemology of major contemporary theories of planning so as to situate the activity of modern planning in historical and intellectual contexts.

  • Research design and quantitative and/or qualitative methods - 6 credits. Satisfied by successful completion of UAP 5484 (Research Methodology - 3 credits) and UAP 5494 (Advanced Quantitative Techniques - 3 credits), or equivalents.

Students pursuing thematic areas Landscape Design and Analysis and Urban Design will be required to complete two additional core courses, although these may be waived if students have already taken equivalent courses successfully.

  • LAR 5704 - Advanced Landscape Design and Planning Lab (5 credits)
  • LAR 5724 - Scholarship in Landscape Architecture (3 credits)

In addition, foreign language proficiency may be required depending on the nature of dissertation research. Such a requirement will be determined by the student's faculty advisory committee.

Thematic Areas in Urban & Environmental Design

The Urban & Environmental Design & Planning track includes six thematic areas: metropolitan development, community and economic development planning, international development planning, environmental planning and landscape design, transportation planning, and physical planning and urban design.

There are more than 40 graduate-level courses offered to students each semester in these substantive areas providing a solid foundation for advanced graduate study.

Metropolitan Development:

More than 90% of all development in the United States occurs in metropolitan areas, and between 2005 and 2035 metropolitan development will exceed $20 trillion in investment. This thematic area has five topical emphases: metropolitan form, metropolitan systems, metropolitan processes, metropolitan analysis, and real estate development.

  • UAP faculty lead the nation in metropolitan studies, and they are directly affiliated with the Metropolitan Institute which provides numerous opportunities for doctoral student research and support.

Community and Economic Development Planning:

"Communities," defined as sub-regional units ranging from ethnic neighborhoods in large metropolitan centers to small rural towns, face numerous diverse challenges to viability in a rapidly globalizing world.

Issues community development planners address in professional practice: 

  • Creating opportunities for economic development in communities distressed by plant closures and contracting job base
  • Developing the institutional capability to respond to social and environmental problems beleaguering many blighted communities

Faculty expertise exists in the areas of community building and involvement, community economic development, housing, neighborhood revitalization, knowledge-based industries, regional innovation systems, and entrepreneurship.

Ph.D. students in this concentration can find research opportunities with the Center for Housing Research and the Metropolitan Institute.

International Development Planning:

A great challenge facing all planners and policy makers is the persistence of poverty in less developed countries. Virginia Tech urban and regional planners continue to build upon an international reputation notable in the areas of international urbanization, environmental and regional economic development planning, non-governmental organizations and development, and infrastructure planning in low-income countries.

Environmental Planning and Landscape Analysis:

Environmental planning involves theories, processes, approaches, methods, and techniques used to improve decisions to manage natural systems and human-environment interactions.

It includes environmental land use planning, pollution prevention, environmental sustainability, natural resources planning, watershed and water resources planning, land conservation, and related areas.

Faculty have experience in collaborative environmental planning, greenway/parkway planning, habitat conservation planning, landscape restoration, land use planning, watershed related studies, and environmental impact assessment, both locally and internationally. The Landscape Architecture research laboratory is dedicated to innovative landscape planning and analysis using GIS technology in support of faculty research and service projects.

Transportation Planning:

Transportation planning is an integrative field that studies the separate concepts of mobility and access. Students and faculty studying transportation examine the social and physical organization of society at geographic scales ranging from local neighborhoods to regions to the entire globe. They explore the social, economic, and spatial relationships which shape how individuals gain access to opportunity in regions--as well as how transport infrastructure affects local communities and environments.

With opportunities for partnering with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, this concentration offers considerable growth potential for the reformulated EDP program.

Physical Planning and Urban Design:

More than one half of the urban infrastructure that will exist in this nation in 2025 will be constructed during the next two decades. It is crucial that the physical growth of cities be guided in a manner that supports enhanced quality of life.

The topical areas under investigation include:

  • urban infrastructure planning
  • urban biodiversity conservation planning
  • public health through community design
  • public security and crime prevention through environmental design
  • equitable and accessible public space design
  • urban forestry/horticulture
  • low impact development
  • distributed stormwater management.

The University's Metropolitan Institute supports scholarship in this program theme area. UAP-Alexandria directs the Planning Academy for the New Metropolis and its subsidiary Academy for New Urbanism. Faculty members in Landscape Architecture are engaged in urban design and physical planning work in China.
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