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| Landscape
Architecture is a licensed professional discipline concerned
with the planning and spatial design of landscapes. Its
practitioners work at all scales - from that of the home garden
or entry terrace to corporate sites, parks, greenways, communities,
mines, national parks and forests - to plan, design, and specify
changes to existing natural- and human-dominated areas of land.
These changes may include ecological restoration of disturbed
land, human development, and settlement of land, or further
improvements and beautification of occupied land. |
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| At the core of the profession, knowledge gained in the arts and
sciences enables landscape architects to recommend appropriate forms
of human engagement with the landscape. To understand the interactions
between people and land, students of landscape architecture learn
to understand the nature of the Earth's past and present physical
and biological systems and their behavior, together with the nature
of humans, individuals, and communities. Course work in behavioral,
natural, and social sciences, design theory and history, spatial design
communication, data processing technology, construction practices
and administration, and professional practice provides students with
the skills, knowledge, and values to plan and design landscapes. |
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Embodied in the ethics of landscape architecture
is the ecological notion of the deep interrelatedness of all
living things on the planet with the environments that sustain
them, including humans and their settlements. Landscape
architects, therefore, tend to take the "long view" of most
issues associated with human land use, looking fully at the
sweep of time that has formed the landscape as a guide to recommending
landscape change. The long view, of course, applies at
all scales. |
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| Most landscape architects find employment in firms
offering professional planning and design services to corporations,
governments, institutions, and individuals. In these firms
there is often a high degree of collaboration with natural and
social scientists, architects, engineers, city planners, and
others in the preparation of plans and designs. Landscape
architects also represent the interests of land owners in specifying
construction of improvements to their land. They observe
construction progress to assure that it is proceeding according
to plan, advising the owner of discrepancies in quality and
quantity of the contracted work. Landscape architects
may be self-employed in these activities. A great many
also find work in the public sector in municipal and regional
open space, parks or planning agencies, national parks, national
forests, and other federal land management agencies. Those
who go on to pursue a second professional degree at the master's
or Ph.D. level will also find academic and research employment
opportunities. |
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