[2] After approval of the creation of a new School of Environmental Design, the landscape and urban planning programs moved into their current building in January 1971.

In 1978, the College was briefly led by Richard Saul Wurman, founder of the TED (conference) and given credit for coining the term "information architect".

[3] In the summer of 2009 the University hired former Los Angeles City Councilman and current member of the Planning Commission Michael Woo to serve as Dean of the college.

The undergraduate program was ranked 16th nationally in the 2014 edition of "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools" published by the journal DesignIntelligence[5] and was in the top 20 in the 2011 survey.

[21] Past faculty include: Aaron Betsky, Michele Saee, Michael Folonis, Hsin Ming Fung, and Margaret Griffin.

Longtime faculty member Takeo Uesugi designed the George and Takaye Aratani Japanese Garden adjacent to the CLA building on campus.

In 2005, the college awarded Jack Dangermond, a department graduate and Forbes 400 richest persons in America, an honorary degree.

[12] In 2008, the program was ranked 21st in the nation for Best Urban & Regional Planning graduate program amongst all private and public schools, according to Planetizen,[27] an online publication for the urban planning, design and development community and 2nd best for programs without a Ph.D.[28] Located on 16 acres (65,000 m2) within the Cal Poly Pomona University campus, the Center researches and demonstrates a wide array of regenerative strategies including low-energy architecture, energy production technology, water treatment, organic agriculture, ecological restoration and sustainable community development.