Emphasis is placed on learning the means of satisfying functional and aesthetic requirements appropriate for a variety of specific interior spatial uses. Consideration is given to the human being and the micro–environment in the total complex of environmental relationships. The combination of courses and experiences provides students an opportunity to develop knowledge, skills, and insights needed to solve design problems creatively and effectively.

The School of Planning, Design, and Construction is jointly administered by the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the College of Social Science. The College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is the primary administrative unit. The school includes the academic programs that affect the various components of the built environment – construction management, landscape architecture, interior design, and urban and regional planning. Its educational discovery and engagement programs enhance the quality of life in a sustainable manner. The school serves the needs of students, the public, and the built environment via its undergraduate and graduate programs, research, conferences, and workshops offered through various outreach programs.

The school and its programs advance the university's bolder by design mission by creating, disseminating and applying knowledge to improve the quality of life in urban, regional and international communities. It accomplishes this mission, in part, by implementing, evaluating and disseminating innovative approaches developed through multidisciplinary research and collaborative community partnerships. The school provides a collaborative learning environment for faculty and students at Michigan State University to participate in a scholarship of engagement in generating and applying knowledge to address the contemporary challenges of communities.

The school also offers a dual degree program which provides an opportunity for students who are currently accepted into the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program to enroll in graduate courses required in the Master of Arts Degree in Environmental Design while completing the last year and a half (three semesters) of their bachelor's degree program. Students interested in pursuing the dual degree of Bachelor of Landscape Architecture in Landscape Architecture and the Master of Arts in Environmental Design should contact the School of Planning, Design and Construction. Students are eligible to apply for admission to the dual degree program after completion of the first two years of curriculum requirements in the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture in Landscape Architecture.