The background of the Environmental Planning Laboratory dates back to 2005, when environmental specialists began to be incorporated into the field of territorial and urban planning research. Between 2005 and 2008, steps were taken towards the definition of the group, thanks, especially, to the writing of two theses and the supervision of several research projects. In this way, the scientific identity of the group developed based on the creation of methodological and instrumental innovations that aim to combine sustainability, efficiency, equity, multi-scalarity, multi-temporality and transdisciplinarity in the planning field. In this regard, the group focuses on various assessment and planning demands: analysis and environmental diagnostics, urban development, landscape, urban mobility, metropolitan areas, watershed management and public participation.

The essential foundations of the conception and carrying out of the group's research are spatial analysis, landscape ecology, assessment and decision methods, GIS instruments, as well as integrated management models. These elements make up the main tools and skills offered by the young group (2010), which has considerable potential.