Office of Sustainability

Community Planning is concerned with the use of land, protection of the environment, public welfare, the design of public spaces and infrastructure, and the economy. Auburn University’s Master of Community Planning is a professionally oriented master’s degree program in which students work with clients on real-world planning projects in almost every class. Through working on these projects, students learn to help diverse and complex communities create and implement plans that improve and protect their quality-of-life, culture, resource base, built environment, natural environment, and economic vitality. AU’s Master of Community Planning is offered through the College of Liberal Arts.

Rural Studio is an off-campus design-build program in the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction. Rural Studio emphasizes place, beauty, economy, and purpose, from education to research to outreach. The Rural Studio philosophy suggests that everyone, both rich and poor, deserves the benefit of good design. The studio is known for its ethos of recycling, reusing, and remaking. To date, Rural Studio has built more than 200 projects. “We encourage aspiring young architects to address the ethical responsibility for the social, political, and environmental consequences of what they design and build,” says Andrew Freear, Rural Studio director.

Drs. Jeffrey LaMondia of the College of Engineering, Sweta Byahut of the College of Liberal Arts, and Professor Charlene LeBleu of the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction have embarked on a multi-year research project that aims to determine the impact of landscape patterns on stormwater runoff. In order to minimize ecosystem degradation and flood exacerbation, some local governments have adopted “green infrastructure” plans and strategies to conserve and protect their natural resources. This research identifies communities that have engaged in green infrastructure planning in the Mississippi-Alabama coastal region, identifies best practices among those communities, and pinpoints landscape patterns that should be protected.