Key Takeaways:
- Environmental design focuses on creating sustainable, eco-friendly products and systems across fields like engineering, architecture, and urban planning.
- It involves repurposing leftover materials and using sustainable products to reduce waste and promote eco-conscious living.
- Careers in environmental design are growing, with opportunities in fields like urban planning, sustainability, and climate change analysis.
In this guide, we answer the question, What is environmental design? Environmental design focuses on creating eco-friendly solutions in fields like architecture design, urban planning, and design planning. It integrates sustainable practices to address environmental challenges and improve the way we build, plan, and design. Professionals in environmental architecture and design play a vital role in developing programs, buildings, and products that prioritize sustainability. Many bachelor degree programs now offer specialized courses in environmental design to prepare students for careers that make a positive impact.
What is Environmental Design?
Environmental design is one of many options available to many majors, including art and design majors who chose to specialize in environmental design. It’s a fairly new challenge to planning industrial processes and consumer products that are sustainable, ecologically intelligent, and healthy for not just humans but also for the environment around us. In the past, when we built things out of raw materials, we kept them until we no longer needed them and then throw them in the trash. Today, we try to save and recycle products into new and useful products. When we did build products, any extra materials were often tossed out. Today we use leftover materials to also design usable and sustainable products. These things are all done with the help of environmental design.
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Examples of Environmental Design
Environmental designers work in both private and public settings. Their work covers a large span, including commercial, recreational, residential, and leisure. Examples of work environmental designers might provide include parks, courtyards, green roofs, garden centers, and public squares. Their work can actually be found in all walks of life.
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Training Programs in Environmental Design
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) groups environmental design professionals under the category of urban and regional planners. According to the bureau, most urban and regional planners have a master’s degree from a school accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board.
Many colleges also offer bachelor’s degree programs in environmental design, geography, economics, or political science. The bachelor’s degree programs take about four years to complete, with an additional two years for the master’s degree.
In addition to coursework, students also spend time in labs, workshops, and seminars. Students often also complete internships in facilities where they obtain experience planning projects or working in architecture. As of 2016, there were more than 70 PAB-accredited master’s and 15 bachelor’s degree programs in the U.S. Graduates can pursue voluntary certification through the American Institute of Certified Planners. New Jersey is the only state that requires licensure for its urban and regional planners.
Career Outlook
The career outlook for environmental design professionals is looking positive for the decade of 2016-2026, as reported by the BLS. The bureau expects these professionals to see an employment growth of 14%. As of May 2017, urban and regional planners earned an average annual wage of $74,350, with wages ranging from $44,680 to $108,170.
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The average hourly wage for these specialists was $35.75 in 2017. The five top-paying states for urban and regional planners are California, Texas, Washington, Florida, and New York. Graduates of environmental design programs may find jobs as:
- Environmental Designers
- Environmental Horticulture Specialists
- Climate Change Analysts
- Public Relations Specialists
- Sustainability Specialists
- Insurance Brokers
- Sustainability Consultants
- Supervisor of Production and Operation Workers
Saving our planet and providing a clean environment for everyone is becoming a top priority today. Pursuing a career in environmental design puts an individual in a role where he or she can help accomplish this while also having an exciting and challenging career.
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