In 1929, North America's first urban planning degree (at the graduate level) was established at Harvard under short-term funding from the Rockefeller Foundation.

Then in 1994, the Urban Planning program was officially returned to the Graduate School of Design under the aegis of Albert Carnesale, the Dean of the Kennedy School of Government, and Peter G. Rowe, the Dean of the Faculty of Design; with the first class entering in academic year 1994–1995.

In 2021, the Department of Urban Planning and Design assumed responsibility for a third graduate degree, the Master in Real Estate[10] (MRE).

In 1937, Walter Gropius joined the GSD faculty as chair of the Department of Architecture and brought modern designers, including Marcel Breuer to help revamp the curriculum.

The school's now defunct Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis (LCGSA) led by the Department of Landscape Architecture is widely recognized as the research/development environment from which the now-commercialized technology of geographic information systems (GIS) emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Throughout the year, Executive Education offers short duration programs in the fields of architecture, urban planning, design, and real estate to a diverse audience of learners.

[18] In addition to its degree programs, the GSD administers the Loeb Fellowship,[19] and has hosted numerous research initiatives such as the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure[20] and TUT-POL: Transforming Urban Transport - The Role of Political Leadership,[21] led by Diane E. Davis and Lily Song.

Gund Hall is the main building, which has studio spaces and offices for approximately 800 students and more than 100 faculty and staff, lecture and seminar rooms, workshops and darkrooms, an audiovisual center, computer facilities, Chauhaus, the cafeteria, a project room, Piper Auditorium, and the Frances Loeb Library.

Gund Hall has a yard that comprises a basketball court and is often used for events, as an exhibition area for class projects, and as the setting for commencement ceremonies.

The building was designed by architect John Andrews and supervised by structural engineer William LeMessurier both GSD alumni.

The Fabrication Lab has both traditional tools and state-of-the-art technology available for model making and prototyping to faculty research and student course work.

[26] Notable faculty currently at the school include Gary R. Hilderbrand[30]Martin Bechthold, Anita Berrizbeitia, Eve Blau, Sean Canty, Jennifer Bonner, Hanif Kara, Jorge Silvetti, Antoine Picon, Farshid Moussavi, Jeanne Gang, Peter G. Rowe, John R. Stilgoe, K. Michael Hays, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Mohsen Mostafavi, Preston Scott Cohen, Rahul Mehrotra, Rem Koolhaas, Grace La, Rafael Moneo, Sarah M. Whiting, Toshiko Mori, Mark Lee, and Sharon Johnston.