UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Designing land-based projects that are sustainable can be challenging with the numerous issues involved, including rising land costs, conservation factors and energy concerns. Today, it takes contributions from multiple professions to achieve successful design solutions. This trend is resulting in double-digit growth in professions involved in design and planning, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. To prepare professionals to help lead complex sustainable design and planning projects, Penn State is launching a graduate certificate in geodesign, delivered entirealy online.
“Geodesign is a collaborative process that brings together design-thinking with science to help communities move forward with their change initiatives,” said Kelleann Foster, associate professor of landscape architecture and lead faculty for the program. “The program is rooted in a framework that has been used for decades. That process, coupled with enhanced technologies, provides students with a solid basis for how to help communities address their challenges, including knowing the key questions to ask, how to discover which data are most appropriate and how to put together the right team of collaborators.” This program advocates for developing a well-thought-out geodesign framework before delving into technical processing.