History and mission
The School of Environment and Development (SED) was created in 2004 as part of the new University of Manchester, and it combines the Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) with the disciplines of Architecture, Geography, and Planning & Landscape. Each discipline has its own character and the School seeks to retain this whilst building on our interdisciplinary strengths.
It is our goal that the School of Environment and Development will be internationally recognized as an interdisciplinary centre of excellence for research and teaching for those seeking to understand, theorize and tackle the problems created by the uneven relationships between society, economy, and environment.
Constituent units
The Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM) was established in 1958, is the UK’s largest University-based International Development Studies centre, with over thirty Manchester-based academic and associated staff. Its objective is to promote social and economic development , particularly within lower-income countries and for disadvantaged groups, by enhancing the capabilities of individuals and organisations through education, training, consultancy, research and policy analysis. To build on this tradition, the University recently created in SED the Brooks World Poverty Institute, a new multidisciplinary centre of excellence researching poverty, poverty reduction, inequality and growth . IDPM is a purely postgraduate Institute and has nearly 300 full time postgraduate taught students. It is housed in the Harold Hankins building.
Geography has been taught at Manchester for over one hundred years. There are currently over thirty-five members of staff within the School who have a wide range of teaching and research interests. It has a highly rated international research reputation in a broad range of areas of human and physical geography. It has a large undergraduate population, and three taught Masters degrees.
Planning has a 50-year record of academic leadership in planning education. It has innovative and high quality graduate and undergraduate programmes for professionals in town planning, landscape planning and environmental management. It is currently involved in research on real-world issues of sustainable urban development, environmental impact management, urban regeneration and design. The discipline has practice links with institutions, companies and communities engaged with environment and urbanism, particularly in north-west England .
The school also contains the University of Manchester Architectural Research Centre (MARC), part of the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) which was created in 1996 by an amalgamation of the extant architecture schools in the University of Manchester and the Manchester Metropolitan University. MARC draws upon a wide range of interdisciplinary research and teaching interests within the School and has strong research and practice links into urban design and sustainability.