Steps to Becoming a Professional Landscape Architect

to earn a master’s degree or even a Ph.D. The job description for a faculty position often requires candidates to have professional practice (in private or government) but this is less critical if candidates can demonstrate a history of research or scholarly accomplishments. A record of accomplishment can be demonstrated by published work in books or journals and awards. While teaching and research are the primary activities of faculty, they may engage in outside professional practice and some university programs endorse outside practice, particularly if faculty can demonstrate that their practice contributes in a meaningful way to their teaching and scholarly activities.

Non-traditional forms of practice have provided fulfilling and productive careers for landscape architecture graduates. The computer and design skills developed in school have led to employment in industry and non-governmental organizations. Landscape graduates have used their computer skills and interest to join municipal and state planning departments or industry, providing geo-spatial or graphic representation capabilities in support of various functions. Landscape graduates have found work in film production, particularly for documentaries or educational markets. The FedEx Corporation at their Memphis, Tennessee, headquarters hired a landscape architect several years ago, based on his design and especially his computer graphic skills. He was hired to produce web-based training manuals as well as assist in the production of marketing media. Another example of a non-traditional track is a student who was hired by the National Trust for Public Lands to assist in assessing potential strategic purchases of properties. Other individuals became public school teachers, ministers, and technical staff for various humanitarian agencies such as Catholic Services. The writing and editing skills of several other graduates have helped them to become editors of popular trade magazines. The knowledge and skills learned in school have enabled graduates shown in these examples to create professional careers limited only by their imagination and resourcefulness, together with a bit of persistence and patience.

Landscape architecture is recognized as a profession similar to architecture and engineering in most Western, European, and Asian countries. In recent years the profession has gained professional standing in several Latin American countries. The rate of acceptance has met with mixed success in others. Those in the profession see a bright future, particularly as problems of ever-increasing scarcity of resources, environmental degradation and pollution, and rapidly expanding urban growth make achieving more healthy, livable, and sustainable development a priority. Landscape architects, given their education and professional experience, are viewed as contributors to identifying and creating sustainable solutions in a world of expanding urban centers and scarcity of resources, and which is fraught with environmental problems.

Many countries have established a path to achieving professional status in the design professions, including landscape architecture.

The path begins with academic preparation followed by a period of apprenticeship in preparation of licensure or other form of establishing one’s credentials to practice. Let’s review the path or steps typical when becoming legally if not administratively a professional landscape architect.

In the United States, professional licensure is required before one can legally practice and charge clients fees as a landscape architect. There are two primary prerequisites before taking a national examination: academic preparation and an apprenticeship. In other countries there is generally no formal licensure requirement based on an examination. Generally, successful graduation from an accredited program plus a period of apprenticeship is sufficient. There are approximately 80 accredited landscape architecture programs in the United States. The Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB), together with procedures for carrying out the Board’s responsibilities, have been established under the auspices of the US Department of Education to determine if a university’s landscape architecture program has met specified minimum standards of academic preparation. Standards include specified course subjects and contents, faculty academic preparations and accomplishments, adequacy of the physical plant, and administrative support. Accreditation determination, if successful, identifies a university’s program as accredited for a set period of time (typically six years). A university may offer accredited programs at the bachelor’s or master’s levels, or both. Course work includes landscape history and theory, landscape technology, plant materials and planting design, studio design, special topics seminars, and other university-required courses. Some professional landscape curricula also include horticulture, soils, and land surveying. The students in Figure 1.4 are seen working in the field and in their design studio where they may work on projects assigned on an individual or teamwork basis. Often the landscape planning projects are community-based projects and may be designed to include many project types from residential, neighborhood, community, and state levels, and in remote areas involving national parks, wetlands and river corridors and resource extraction sites. Students may also work in teams on a variety of project types at the regional scale, involving hundreds and even thousands of acres (100–500 hectares), and working with geographical information software to analyze and formulate planning and design strategies. Figure 1.4 A: Landscape students gathering information during One of the requirements when a candidate a field trip to design a project site; B: Faculty giving students a applies for licensure is proof of having graduated critique of their work in progress. from an accredited program and having been

employed as an apprentice for the minimum length of time required by the licensing jurisdiction. Serving as an apprentice in the employment of a professional landscape architect or other recognized design professional is a prerequisite for being recognized, in addition to having an accredited degree in most countries outside of North America. In the United States, one must also successfully pass a nationally administered examination. In the United States, one obtains licensure at the state level, not the national level, whereas in European countries professional credentials are administered at the national level. Each state in America has established its own minimum number of apprenticeship years and the number varies from none (in the case of Mississippi) to three (the state of Washington, for example). The number of years of apprenticeship required by the majority of states is one year but it can also be longer in other states. A candidate is then required to take the national landscape architecture registration examination. Having graduated from an accredited program and satisfied the minimum length of time as an apprentice, and after passing the national examination, one then is allowed to legally practice in the state where the candidate has obtained licensure.

In countries where an examination is a requirement before becoming a professional landscape architect, the examination8 is generally a national examination administered by an organization with each state being an affiliate member. In the United States, the material contained in the examination is selected to test for minimum competency to practice landscape architecture. The purpose of the examination is not to exclude qualified individuals from practicing their profession. The examination is to assess an individual’s understanding of the minimum knowledge necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public. In other words, the goal of having licensure for individuals to practice the profession is to protect the public from harm as a result of poor or inadequate design. Similarly physicians receive a license to practice medicine after having passed an examination. Lawyers and other professionals have an examination requirement before being allowed to practice law or their professions.

The concept of first passing an examination before being allowed to practice one’s profession is closely adhered to in the United States but not followed in many other countries. Other countries place a greater reliance on university preparation and work experience. In the end, reputation is what ultimately establishes one’s capability to perform landscape architectural services. The operative legal system in any given country is what identifies qualifications to practice one’s profession.

While much of the work landscape architects do is in their office or on site, gathering field information, they often make presentations of the work in public forums. These forums are scheduled as an integral part of the design process and serve to inform and educate the public and client, as well as seeking their input and later approval. Figure 1.5 shows a landscape architect making a public presentation.