BA/BS in Environmental Design

This undergraduate major looks at the built world, from homes and bike routes to local food markets, and at how those settings connect to pressing urban issues such as climate change, community health, public safety and housing costs. Students learn to help communities shape neighborhoods that are attractive, sustainable, healthy and fair. The curriculum studies what residents need and want from where they live. Much of the learning happens in studio, working alongside classmates and faculty, and students meet practitioners from the region as well as visiting speakers through a public lecture series. Faculty are known worldwide for research on topics like climate action, racial justice, sustainable development, affordable housing and planning for food systems. The major is housed in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University at Buffalo, within the urban and regional planning department, and students may add a minor in environmental design or real estate and urban development.