Today's complex urban, social, and environmental issues can best be understood by researchers who can work across disciplinary boundaries, and who understand the relationship of research to action. For example, efforts to control transportation problems by building neighborhoods that encourage alternatives to the automobile require an understanding of travel behavior and human interactions with the built environment. Understanding how to reduce tobacco use requires an appreciation of how behavior is shaped by programmatic interventions, community settings and norms, and policy tools. Environmental cooperation across national borders often requires understanding of political processes, infrastructure systems, and metropolitan structure and governance in regions, such as the U.S.-Mexico border, where population is concentrated in urban settlements that span the border. And, issues of public safety are increasingly related to the design of public and private spaces, and how those spaces are used and regulated.
In all of these areas, public and private officials are increasingly working on topics that span the boundaries of several traditional academic disciplines. The Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy (UEPP) doctoral program at the University of California, Irvine trains scholars for national and international prominence in the analysis of social problems related to the built, natural, and institutional environments. Faculty members and students combine perspectives from urban planning, public policy, and design behavior. The Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy Ph.D. is based on the Department's internationally prominent research and teaching strengths, including design-behavior research, environmental policy, health promotion and policy, and urban and community development. Students in the Ph.D. program take a common core of classes, and then specialize in study related to their research interests. Students may design their own specialization or may follow the guidelines provided to specialize in Policy and/or Urban and Regional Planning. In either case, the elective courses must be approved by the student's faculty advisory committee.