Vision

Our vision is to launch our graduates to be agents of change for environmental good, disrupting the practices that degrade our environment and accelerating pathways and practices toward resilient, healthy, and equitable futures.

Resilience and equity are this century's primary challenges. Science shows that climate impacts are getting worse – making the planet hotter, affecting wellbeing, and causing instability from floods, drought, and fire. How we live matters. We urgently need to redesign the physical fabric of our regions, cities, and neighborhoods to make them more adaptable to environmental change while proactively addressing social inequities and dislocations. 

To do this, we need to look both backward and forward. The design and development practices of the late 20th century have exacerbated our current challenges. We must critically evaluate existing infrastructures, land-use plans, and buildings — this is the palimpsest in which we are intervening in order to redirect it toward a better future.

Understanding what worked, and what did not, enables us to promote new practices that build our collective capacity for adaptation, renewal, and equity.

Our mission is to advance knowledge and educate students in the critical theories, design practices, and sciences that address the environmental challenges of this century.

As part of a renowned public research university, in a region alive with entrepreneurship and located along the dynamic Pacific Rim, CED is well positioned to make our mission actionable. This moment calls for a broad convergence — expanding our impact for the public good through interdisciplinary teaching, research, community outreach, and industry partnerships.

Our degree programs focus on the formation of the environment as situated in a continuum of histories, societies, economies, materials, systems, and scales. We emphasize critical thinking about the ecological, social, and cultural performance of spaces, landscapes, and infrastructure systems. The diverse intellectual foci of our faculty’s research inform our curriculum and encourage exploration across the college's fields and professions. They all reflect global, multi-scale perspectives that broaden discourses while grounding them in lived experiences.

We aim to instruct and empower the next generation of environmental designers who will help to build better environmental futures, inspire and lead their professions, and serve our communities through practice and public service. Every generation seeks to make its mark, defining excellence anew. We are here to advance this.