Landscape Architect
Landscape Architect
Career Overview
Landscape architects design and plan outdoor spaces such as parks, gardens, campuses, residential developments, public spaces, and recreational areas. They combine design, environmental science, plants, land use, and technology to create spaces that are attractive, functional, accessible, and environmentally responsible. Their work can also include restoring natural areas, improving drainage, managing stormwater, and designing green spaces that benefit communities.
Education
A bachelor's degree in landscape architecture is the usual starting point for this career, although some people enter through related degrees and continue with a master's degree in landscape architecture. Programs typically include landscape design, site planning, ecology, plant and soil science, construction, and computer-aided design. Professional registration or licensing requirements vary around the world.
Future Outlook
As communities grow and look for healthier, more attractive, and more sustainable places to live, landscape architects can help shape the outdoor spaces around us. Their work is increasingly connected to climate resilience, stormwater management, habitat restoration, green infrastructure, urban parks, and sustainable development. Technology such as computer-aided design and geographic information systems is also expanding what landscape architects can create and manage.
Work Environment
Landscape architects divide their time between offices and project sites. They create plans and digital models, meet with clients and other professionals, and may visit construction sites to inspect projects. They can work with architects, engineers, planners, environmental specialists, contractors, governments, and communities.
Recommended High School Courses
- Biology
- Physics
- Communication
- Environmental Science
- Land Surveying
- Mathematics
- Geography
- Landscape design
- Active Learning - Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Negotiation - Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Operations Analysis - Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Persuasion - Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Clerical - Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Far Vision - The ability to see details at a distance.
- Flexibility of Closure - The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Number Facility - The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Originality - The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
- Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Time Sharing - The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Visualization - The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Discuss designs or plans with clients.
- Create maps.
- Analyze physical, survey, or geographic data.
- Perform marketing activities.
- Inspect facilities or sites to determine if they meet specifications or standards.
- Create graphical representations of structures or landscapes.
- Incorporate green features into the design of structures or facilities.
- Explain project details to the general public.
- Supervise engineering or other technical personnel.
- Confer with technical personnel to prepare designs or operational plans.
- Update technical knowledge.
- Prepare detailed work plans.
- Select project materials.
- Design water conservation systems.
- Advise customers on the use of products or services.
Schools
Academy Of Art University
Arizona State University
Ball State University
Cal Poly Pomona
Clemson University
Cuyahoga Community Colleg...
East Central University -...
Florida International Uni...
Michigan State University
North Carolina State Univ...
Northeastern University
Ohio State University-mai...
Rhode Island School Of De...
Suny College Of Agricultu...
Suny College Of Environme...
Texas A & M University- C...
Texas Tech University
Thomas Jefferson Universi...
University Of California-...
University Of California-...
University Of Delaware
University Of Georgia
University Of Illinois At...
University Of Kentucky
University Of Maryland -...
University Of Maryland- C...
University Of Washington-...
University Of Wisconsin-...
Virginia Tech
Dalhousie University-...
Universite De Montreal...
University Of British...
University Of Guelph
University Of Manitoba
Approx Salary Expectation
Low End:
$52,000.00 /yr
Avg/Med:
$80,000.00 /yr
High End:
$132,000.00 /yr
Related Careers
References
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.