Landscape architecture

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The art and science of designing outdoor spaces, including parks, gardens, and urban landscapes.

History of Landscape Architecture: A study of the origins, evolution, and key historical figures of the field. This includes understanding the various styles, movements, and philosophies.
Site Analysis and Assessment: A process of evaluating the landscape's physical characteristics, such as topography, soil, hydrology, vegetation, climate, and cultural context. It helps to identify the opportunities and constraints of a site.
Environmental Planning and Sustainability: An approach to design that aims to minimize environmental impacts while promoting ecological, social, and economic sustainability. This includes strategies like green infrastructure, low-impact development, and conservation planning.
Urban Design and Planning: A discipline that focuses on the design, management, and use of urban spaces. It involves understanding the relationship between buildings, streets, public spaces, and the natural environment.
Landscape Ecology: The study of the interactions between living organisms and their environment. It helps to understand the ecological processes that shape the landscape and inform the design decisions.
Planting Design: The art and science of selecting, arranging, and managing plants in the landscape. It includes understanding the plants' growth habits, seasonal changes, and cultural requirements.
Grading and Drainage: The design and engineering of the landform to manage water flow and erosion. It involves understanding the principles of grading, drainage, and stormwater management.
Construction Materials and Methods: Knowledge of materials, technologies, and techniques used in landscape construction, such as hardscaping, irrigation, and lighting.
Cultural and Social Context: Understanding the social, cultural, and historical factors that influence the design, use, and management of landscapes. This includes the role of stakeholders, public participation, and community engagement.
Professional Practice: Laws, regulations, ethics, and standards that govern the profession of landscape architecture. It involves understanding the business and legal aspects of the field, such as project management, contracts, and liability.
Urban design: Urban design includes the planning and designing of the built environment such as parks, street scapes, town centers, and transportation systems of urban areas.
Ecological design: It involves the designing of landscapes that prioritize the health of natural ecosystems, such as creating wildlife habitats, wetlands, and planting native vegetation.
Regional design: Regional design involves working with specific natural and cultural conditions in a particular region to create a cohesive design plan.
Garden design: Garden design involves designing private and public outdoor spaces such as residential gardens, parks, and botanical gardens.
Campus design: Campus design is a subset of urban design that specifically focuses on college and university campuses, including buildings, open spaces, and pedestrian paths.
Recreational design: It involves designing recreational areas such as golf courses, sports fields, playgrounds, and bike trails.
Transportation design: Transportation design involves the designing of transportation infrastructure that includes roadways, bridges, and highways.
Industrial design: It involves designing industrial sites, such as factories, warehouses, and mines.
Historic preservation: Historic preservation focuses on the restoration and preservation of historical buildings, landscapes, and cultural heritage sites.
Environmental planning and design: It involves the designing of landscapes that are sustainable, environment-friendly and integrate the natural and social systems.
Land art and installations: It is an the implementation of art installations that enhance the natural beauty of a site and bring human creativity into the landscape design.
Hydrological or Water management design: This type of design involves the designing of efficient water management and distribution systems, such as storm drain systems, waterfalls and other hydrological features.
Community design: Community design involves urban planning while keeping the societal and cultural preferences in mind.
Commercial and urban/residential areas design: It includes designing of general commercial buildings or high-rise or low-rise residential complexes.
"A practitioner in the profession of landscape architecture may be called a landscape architect."
"Landscape architecture... to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes."
"It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for construction and human use, investigation of existing social, ecological, and soil conditions and processes in the landscape, and the design of other interventions that will produce desired outcomes."
"The scope of the profession is broad and can be subdivided into several sub-categories..."
"Professional or licensed landscape architects... are regulated by governmental agencies."
"...possess the expertise to design a wide range of structures and landforms for human use."
"Landscape design which is not a licensed profession."
"...site planning; stormwater management; erosion control; environmental restoration; public realm, parks, recreation and urban planning; visual resource management; green infrastructure planning and provision; and private estate and residence landscape master planning and design."
"...all at varying scales of design, planning and management."
"In jurisdictions where professional licenses are required, it is often only those who possess a landscape architect license who can be called a landscape architect."