Master's Programme in Environmental Management and Physical Planning, 120 ECTS

The subject of the world! Geographers are involved in community planning in aspects concerned with climatic change, flood risk and storm damage, as well as with developmental issues such as innovations in farming, city expansion, health matters and refugees. Work areas are to be found both in Sweden and abroad (SIDA, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Red Cross, Swedish Rescue Services Agency, etc.). As the impact of human induced changes to our environment becomes more and more intrusive, the geographer’s role takes on a new and important dimension. Geographers contribute to planning future communities and are key participants in the creation of a sustainable future for people on the regional, national and global planes. The discipline Geography encompasses environmental and social questions that are linked to world’s diversity of municipal and rural environments, populations, and living conditions. Geography is a science that since the time of the ancient Greeks has aimed to describe, analyse and explain the earth as the human habitat. Man’s living conditions and environment are largely dependent on whereabouts on the surface of the earth he lives, and there are clear connections between the differing development patterns of different societies and the surrounding natural environment and its exploitation. Knowledge of the connections and interplay between humankind, socio-cultural development and the natural environment constitutes the core of the discipline Geography. As a result of increasing globalisation in interdisciplinary research, business, international trade and economics, tourism, land management and environmental work, education and the mass media, geographical skills are in high demand. There is furthermore a substantial increase in the use of geographic information systems (GIS) and methods of investigation that require the use of satellite imagery and aerial photography (remote sensing).

Urban and Regional Planning is about shaping and structuring the future of society. Planners affect the structure of cities and urban life, the countryside and regional development, the economic situation and the environment, culture and population from social, economic and ecological perspectives. Planning takes place in the public and private sectors as well as within international organizations, such as EU and the UN.

The problems on which planners work require composite analyses. The need for such an approach increases with the increasing complexity of society. The problems are increasingly concerned with balancing different, sometimes contradictory, interests into functional and sustainable suggestions and proposals. Planning often takes place in the form of project work, where suggestions for plans are prepared in teams where different competences are represented.

Planning thus means determining the future while being aware of the fact that at the same time other possible futures are being prevented. It is therefore important to know how society has developed historically and how it works today within different areas, with regard to natural as well as economic and social conditions. A planner must have a broad general knowledge and the ability to merge information and knowledge from different specialist areas. A planner who is responsible for the planning process needs to have an overall view and an ability to see issues from multiple perspectives. For this purpose, there is ongoing basic and applied research where a number of different planning problems are analysed, ranging from individual suburban environments to international environmental issues.

Urban and regional planning may be studied as a three-year programme in the first cycle and in a two-year Master’s programme, or as single-subject courses. Do you want to have an impact on present and future societies? Then Urban and Regional Planning is the right choice!