Courses

All courses carry 3 credits unless otherwise specified.

Landscape Architecture

501 Studio I: Introductory Studio, Part One
Studio I and Studio II are a coordinated 14-week introduction to landscape design and the skills necessary to envision and explore design. The media of landform, water, plants, and structures are explored as defining agents of human space in the garden and landscape. This studio encourages students to think creatively, to generate design ideas and understand design as a process, to gain knowledge of design precedents and principles, and to learn tools and techniques of visual expression.

503 Studio II­: Introductory Studio, Part Two
Continues Studio I.

543 History and Theory I
A survey of the evolution of structures, settlements, and landscapes in the western world from the origins of human societies to the Renaissance. Credit, 4.

544 History and Theory II
Completes the survey begun in LandArch 543. Covers the English landscape garden to the present.

547 Landscape Pattern and Process
Landscape patterns resulting from interactions of biotic, abiotic, and cultural resources and processes over time. Understanding these dynamics as a basis for planning and design interventions.

504 Studio III: Sites and Site Design
This studio introduces techniques of site analysis and digital representation as part of a developing landscape design process for students.

506 Studio IV: The Public Realm
This studio introduces the issues and concerns of contemporary design of the public realm. Site analysis, programming, and public art are emphasized in drawings, and other media.

587 People and the Environment
Interdisciplinary seminar on the applications of environmental psychology research to planning and design.  Topics include landscape preference, territoriality and defensible space, way finding, and restorative settings/therapeutic gardens.

591F Green Urbanism
Interdisciplinary examination of current theories of urbanism focused on landscapes and sustainability. Includes review of international case studies at multiple scales.

596 Independent Study
Independent course or seminar work under direction of instructor.

597 Special Topics
Offered periodically as needs and conditions permit.

597A Computers in Landscape Architecture
Introduces students to digital tools and techniques being used in the profession: CAD, 3D modeling, image editing, animation, web design. Provides a clear framework for understanding digital data that is critical to future design practice.

601 Studio V: Site Planning for Housing
In Studio V, students develop an understanding the legal context and as well as the topographic and environmental contexts when site planning for housing. Fundamental site design and planning criteria, development of project organization, and presentation skills are developed. Students work on their design process and the integration of computer techniques.

603 Studio VI: Cultural Landscape Studio
The cultural landscape studio introduces students to the process of research, planning, design, and management of historically and culturally significant landscapes through selected projects for land management agencies and other government or private clients.

604 Studio VII: Urban Design, Part One
The Urban Design Laboratory introduces you to strategies and program of urban design. Studio includes laboratory meetings and open discussions, study models, and design research.

606 Studio VIII: Urban Design, Part Two
Application of urban design theories as they apply to various scales of urban design, with special attention focused on civic scale design elements and organization of spatial and functional requirements.

607 Studio IX: Greenways
The overall goal of this Studio IX is to teach students how to plan and implement open space protection at a landscape scale. This will require the ability to synthesize information about natural features, cultural resources, and development patterns to create a greenway network that addresses the unique problems and opportunities of the study area.

609 Studio X: Interdisciplinary Studio
This studio is organized as a collaboration with the architecture department, and landscape and architecture students work together on a common site and program.

613 Construction I: Site Engineering
Site engineering problems related to general design including construction processes, alignment geometry, grading, drainage systems, earthwork, and detailing. Emphasis on construction document preparation.

614 Construction II: Site Structures
Design of site structures and required details focusing on stability, durability, and environmental compatibility. Emphasis on statics and strength of materials of site structures. Includes sizing of water retention and detention structures.

651 Professional Practice
Models of professional office structure, including management, organization, and economics for private, public, and academic practice. Covers ethics, compensation, contracts, specifications, and business plan preparation.

661 Cultural Landscapes: Documentation, Values and Policy

Introduce students to the identification, understanding, documentation and policy implications of cultural landscapes. The course touches on the issues of both designed and vernacular landscapes, but the focus is on the vernacular, as the principal expression of cultural landscape. 

663 Heritage Landscapes
Examines historical and recent literature and case studies to answer basic questions about this field: How are heritage landscapes defined and by whom and for what purposes? What are the best current practices in heritage landscape conservation, management, design, and interpretation, particularly relating to the professions of landscape architecture, regional planning, architecture, and public history?

691 Advanced Computer Applications in Landscape Architecture
Current developments in micro-computer hardware and software. Focus on future site design methods: the collection and analysis of site data, illustration of design alternatives, and calculation of engineering requirements.

691F Research Issues in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning
Survey of research issues and methods in landscape architecture and planning. Designed to assist students preparing their research for master’s thesis and projects.

696 Independent Study

698A Master’s Project
Allows a student to work on an actual or demonstration project to explore aspects of landscape planning, design or processes related to landscape architecture. Credit, 6.

699 Thesis
Preparation of a research thesis in an emerging or state-of-the-art area of landscape architecture. Credit, 9.

Regional Planning

553 Resource Policy and Planning
Examination of natural resource policy formation and the planning process at the local, state, and regional levels; the role of government, the bureaucracy, and citizens’ interests in policy formation; the interplay among forces of economics, technology, ecology, and design in the determination of policy goals and planning horizons.

574 Introduction to City Planning
The contexts within which design, development, decision making, and deliberation of community plans take place. Topics include land-use regulation; environmental management; infrastructure, housing, and social services; current challenges; future trends and opportunities.

577 Urban Policies
Social, cultural, political, and economic analyses of urban policies and practices. Various disciplinary approaches used for critiquing and developing appropriate policies, including urban planning, anthropology, geography, political science, media studies, sociology, and economics. Includes service learning component.

580 Sustainable Cities
Core principles and practices of sustainability, addressing a variety of questions: appropriate spatial and temporal scale of planning and design; the role of 'high' and 'low', 'hard' and 'soft' science/technology paths for sustainable development; expertise and equity; individual vs. collective responsibilities.

582 Landscape and Green Urbanism
Interdisciplinary examination of current theories of urbanism focused on landscapes and sustainability. Includes review of international case studies at multiple scales.

587 People and the Environment
Environmental psychology is an interdisciplinary field, which studies the relationship between the physical environment and human behavior.  The premise is that people's behavior (e.g., well-being, emotions, productivity, and even personal relationships) is affected by the physical environments where they live, work, and play.  This graduate seminar is designed to introduce environment-behavior research to landscape architecture and regional planning students.

591A S-Economic Development
Practicum seminar focused on conducting field-based projects with economic development agency clients and constituencies. Activities include data collection. SWOT assessment, and readings in current professional practice literature

592D S-Intro to Urban Design
Introduction to the history and theory of urban design as it pertains to current best practices. Engagement of relevant design knowledge, skills, and values to address contemporary urban issues and challenges. Preparation for urban design studio curriculum.

591D The Once and Future Mill Town
This course will examine the evolution of New England Mill Towns through a cultural lens as they transform themselves over time.  These communities, long so important to the region, have been the recipients of both great praise and condemnation.  Regardless, they have played a significant role in where and how we live.  It will be taught in a lecture/discussion format.

591I S-Sustaining Green Infrastructure Planning and Design
Guiding principles and best practices regarding the use of ecological processes in human-built systems for managing stormwater and wastewater, as well as for achieving other sustainability goals (e.g., human health, biodiversity).  Analysis and assessment techniques to determine the siting and configuration of green infrastructure systems.  Review of case study literature.

591K S-Downtown Revitalization
Strategies for promoting effective economic development of central business districts and town/ village centers through a combination of techniques, such as urban streetscape design, innovative financing of civic improvements, flexible mixed-use codes, place identity and attachment, etc.

620 Quantitative Methods in Planning
Application of quantitative methods used by regional and urban planners. Problem definition and data sources, data collection and analysis using descriptive and inferential statistics, and spreadsheet and database planning software. Data presentation techniques. STATISTC 501 or equivalent recommended.

625 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems in Planning
The design and use of computerized geographic information systems for land planning and design decisions.  Examination of the role of GIS in planning function and process.  Information and its role in defining planning problems and shaping public discussion.

630 The Practice of Public Participation
This course will introduce students to public participation at the practice level in planning.  Lectures and class discussions will review current theory underpinning participation practice, and will critically evaluate the wide range of participation methods currently in use in planning practice.  There will also be one or more exercises in participation implementation that occur outside standard class times.

635 Research Methods in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning
Survey of research issues and methods in landscape architecture and planning.  This course is designed to assist students preparing their research on their Master's theses and Master's projects. 

643 Economic Development Issues in Planning
The contemporary theory and practice of economic development in the U.S. Provides the requisite background to undertake a critical evaluation of economic development strategies. The contemporary practice, history, and politics of economic development; prevailing theories of regional development; and specific state and local development strategies.

645 Growth Management*

650 Introduction to Land Use Planning
The role of policy in guiding land use. Examination of smart-growth principles and practices. Regional land use design and state-level policy as well as international comparisons included.

651 Planning History and Theory
The long-term evolution of planning as a decision-making process, the attributes of the political and administrative environment within which planning takes place, and the implications of this environment for the planning process and the planner over time.  Knowledge, skills and values required by the planning professional as represented in the development of the field.

652 Tools and Techniques in Planning
Practical information, specific tools, regulatory processes, and analytic methods useful in the practice of public sector planning at the local level.

656 Judicial Planning Law
The law of land-use control as expressed in major judicial decisions in the U.S. Constitution, expansion and powers of municipal corporations; use of legal planning tools such as zoning, abatement of nuisance, eminent domain, etc.

658 Planning for Climate Change
This research seminar focuses on the practice and policy of developing disaster-resilient and low-emissions cities and urban areas.

660 Planning for/with Multiple Publics
Exploration of the social, cultural and political implications of planning practice and theory.  The class focuses both on how to plan and critique plans and policies implemented in different types of communities, domestic and international, and the relation of planning and policy to social change.  A central concern is gaining analytical and pragmatic skills necessary to do effective participatory planning regardless of whether people share your background or ideology.

663 Heritage Landscape Management
This course offers students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the theory and practice of heritage management generally, and specifically in its application to the management, interpretation, and design of culturally significant landscapes, including urban landscapes, parks, gardens, historic sites, and agricultural landscapes all over the world.

662 Cultural Heritage Policy and International Sustainability Practice
Intensive seminar focused on current historical and theoretical literature with regard to the formulation of policy strategies and practice guidelines for cultural heritage management in an international organizational context.  Comparative assessment of tangible and intangible cultural resources relative to ecological, economic, and equity aspects of sustainability.

665 Housing and Public Health
The primary goal of this seminar is to explore and understand ways in which the home environment, broadly defined, is implicit in individual and community mental, emotional and physical health.  In so doing, you will come to understand subtle, but profound, individual and group impediments and assets for local development, as well as new ways to understand and implement policies and plans that truly respect both local assets and systemic obstacles that are often mistakenly treated as individual shortcomings.

668 Planning with Minority Communities: The Gullah of South Carolina
This class will investigate the issues of minority community planning and public participation through lectures and discussions in class, followed by an on-site case study and community participation process.  During the in-class lectures and discussions, we will investigate the history of the community and the complex spatial patterns that they have created on the land, patterns which support their communities and way of life.  We will also study the theory of public participation, particularly as it affects rural and minority communities.

673 Spatial Analysis and Regional Development
The goal of this course is to deepen each students understanding of the contemporary forces that affect regional economies and how practice has responded to these challenges.  This course integrates classroom discussion, hands-on applications of analytical techniques, and 'field-work' involving interviews with business leaders, industry association representatives, and local development professionals.  Each semester focuses on a different industry of interest to policymakers in the Pioneer Valley, such as clean energy, life sciences and biotechnology, or precision manufacturing.  As a final product the class will collectively produce a professional report summarizing the current and future economic health of the cluster within the Pioneer Valley. 

675 Regional Planning Studio
This course integrates skills and knowledge from other core courses taken during the first program year and applies them to representative planning problems.  Students gain experience in the practice of master planning and the complexities of analysis and recommendation for social, physical, environmental, economic, and organizational aspects of program planning, development, and implementation. Credit, 6.

691M Seminar in Industrial Development Planning
The impact of industrial development upon communities. Topics range from brownfield revitalization to industrial park development, cluster development, workforce development, and the industrial land crisis.

691S S-Cultural Landscapes: Documentation, Values and Policy
Professional protocols and procedures with regard to the practical standards for identifying, evaluating, classifying, and documenting cultural landscape resources.  Relates those standards and their application to the wider context of community values and policy goals.

692E Interpreting Qualitative Research
Actively engage in systematically learning and working through the analysis, interpretation and writing of qualitative data, regardless of data gathering mode (ethnographic, interview, archival, texts, secondary sources, policy, legal texts, visual, etc.).  Can work with data you've collected or with data more generally related to your area of research interest.  Focus is on inductive, interpretive approaches; theory and practice.

696 Independent Study
Credit, 1-6

698 Planning Practicum
Credit, 1-6

698A Master’s Projects
Credit, 1-6

699 Master’s Thesis  
Credit, 9

892C  PhD Workshop
An opportunity for Regional Planning doctoral students to present work in progress, discuss program and academic issues, share ideas, and interact with faculty.  May be taken for credit only once, although attendance is encouraged throughout the student's matriculation.  Admission for non-Regional Planning doctoral students by consent of instructor.   Credit, 1

891 Seminar in Advanced Planning Theory
Examination of foundational and emerging texts in planning and social theory as well as topics currently under debate among planning theory scholars. Advanced regional planning master’s students may request admission from instructor, as may doctoral students from related fields. Prerequisite: REGIONPL 651 or consent of instructor.

899 Doctoral Dissertation
Credit, 18