From city councils to corporate boardrooms, there is increasing demand today for the professional services of landscape architects. This trend reflects the public's desire for better housing, recreational spaces and commercial facilities, as well as the increasing concern for environmental protection. Residential and commercial real estate developers, federal and state agencies, city planning commissions and individual property owners are all among the thousands that will retain the services of a landscape architect this year.

More than any of the other major environmental design professions, landscape architecture is a profession on the move. It is comprehensive by definition - the art and science of analysis, planning, design, management, preservation and rehabilitation of the land.

By providing well-managed design and development plans, landscape architects offer an array of essential services and expertise that reduces costs and adds long-term value to a project. Clear differences exist between landscape architecture and the other design professions. Understanding these differences is the first step to better use of their skills.

• Architects primarily design buildings and structures with specific uses, such as homes, offices, schools and factories.
• Civil engineers apply scientific principles to the design and construction of public infrastructure such as roads, bridges and utilities.
• Urban planners develop a broad, comprehensive overview of development for entire cities and regions.
• Landscape architects have a working knowledge of many of the principles of architecture, civil engineering and urban planning, but they integrate elements from each of these fields with social, behavioral, and artistic aspects to produce practical and pleasing relationships with the land.

A Diverse Profession
Landscape architecture is one of the most diversified of the design professions. Landscape architects design the built environment of neighborhoods, towns and cities while managing and protecting the natural environment, from forests and fields to rivers and coasts. Members of the profession have a special commitment to improving the quality of life through the best design of places for people and other living things.

The work of landscape architects surrounds us, in the planning of sites such as office plazas, public squares and thoroughfares. The beauty of parks, highways, housing developments, urban plazas, zoos and campuses reflects the skill of landscape architects in planning and designing the construction of useful and pleasing projects.

From coast to coast, in every region of the world, examples of the landscape architecture profession can be found. Many landscape architects are involved in small projects, such as developing plans for a new city park or site plans for an office building. Others have contributed their expertise to large-scale projects such as:

• Master plan for the National Mall and U.S. Capitol Grounds in Washington, D.C.
• Preservation of Yosemite Park and Niagara Falls
• Management plan for the Alaskan Maritime National Wildlife Refuge
• Development of Stanford University site
• Creation of Boston's "emerald necklace" of public green spaces tying city to suburbs
• Plans for Baltimore's park system and Inner Harbor area
• Design of "new towns" such as Columbia, Maryland, and Reston, Virginia
• Landfill reclamation for Fresh Kills in New York and Dyer in Florida
• Plans for Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, California
• Sursum Cordan Affordable Housing, Washington, D.C.
• Design for water treatment and park facility in Hillsboro, Oregon

Depending on the scope of the project, landscape architects will plan the entire arrangement of a site, including the location of buildings, pedestrian and vehicular circulation systems, grading and drainage details, storm-water management systems, irrigation systems, erosion and sediment controls, environmental impact, and planting. They may also coordinate teams of design, construction and contracting professionals.

Federal and local government agencies, including the National Park Service and most local planning boards, employ several landscape architects. More private developers are including landscape architects in to the early planning of projects, realizing landscape design is an integral part of the success and profitability of their projects.

The Father of American Landscape Architecture
While elements of landscape architecture can be found even in ancient times, the history of the profession in North America is often considered to truly begin with Frederick Law Olmsted, who rejected the name "landscape gardener" in favor of the title of "landscape architect," which he felt better reflected the scope of the profession. In 1863, official use of the designation "landscape architect" by New York's park commissioners marked the symbolic genesis of landscape architecture as a modern design profession.

Olmsted was a pioneer and visionary for the profession. His projects, which illustrate the highest of professional standards, include the design of Central Park in New York with Calvert Vaux in the late 1850s and the U.S. Capitol Grounds in the 1870s. Olmsted and his firm advanced the concept of parks as well-designed, functional, public green spaces amid the grayness of the urban areas. Inspired by new democratic ideals and growing social concerns, early landscape designers had combined agricultural methods, civil engineering techniques and artistic principles to shape the lands. Their work reflected a quest for beauty and function combined with responsible land stewardship. It was the vision of Frederick Law Olmsted that established the lofty ideals that will forever guide the profession's underlying philosophy.

Early Developments
Olmsted's friend H.W.S. Cleveland was one of the earliest advocates for conserving large interconnected systems of open space and landscape amenities from "the vandalism which is the inevitable companion of civilization." These two landscape architects and other colleagues created a more established profession with new forms of designed landscapes. The profession played a major role in fulfilling the growing national need for well-planned and well-designed urban environments. Among these new forms was the urban park and recreational spaces that evolved from gardens, cemeteries and parks to amusement parks, campuses, golf courses, resorts and zoos. Planning larger housing environments also emerged under the heading of landscape architecture. Although the profession itself grew slowly, its early practitioners such as Olmsted, Vaux and Cleveland were among the first to take part in the town planning movement and to awaken interest in civic design. Olmsted also joined other early landscape architects in working on projects in other urban settings, such as at Yosemite Valley and Niagara Falls.

Two major achievements launched the profession in this era. In 1899, the American Society of Landscape Architects was founded by 11 people in New York, most of them associated with Olmsted; the Society continues to represent landscape architects throughout the United States. The following year formal instruction in landscape architecture began at Harvard University; Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., organized and taught the first course.

Broadening and Diversifying
Landscape architecture continued to influence the city beautification and planning movement well into the 20th century, as growing cities used the services of professionally-trained landscape architects. The L'Enfant Plan for the national capital was revived and expanded to become the Senate Park Commission Plan, more commonly known as the McMillan Plan. Chicago, Cleveland and other cities also used landscape architects to design out comprehensive development plans.

In the 1920s, urban planning separated from architecture and landscape architecture as a separate profession with its own degree programs and organizations. However, landscape architecture continued to remain a major force in urban planning and urban design.

During and after the Depression, opportunities to design national and state parks, towns, parkways and new urban park systems broadened the profession. The focus of American landscape architecture returned to its roots in public projects, a trend which has continued to today.

The Profession in Practice
Landscape architecture in the new millennium can't be described in a few simple terms; the scope of the profession is too broad and the projects too varied. A variety of often interwoven specializations exist within the profession, including the following:

• Landscape Design, the historical core of the profession, is concerned with detailed outdoor space design for residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and public spaces. It involves the treatment of a site as art, the balance of hard and soft surfaces in outdoor and indoor spaces, the selection of construction and plant materials, infrastructure (such as irrigation and retaining walls) and the preparation of detailed construction plans and documents.

• Site Planning focuses on the physical design and arrangement of built and natural elements of a land parcel. A site planning project can be preparing the land for a single house, an office park, a shopping center, or an entire residential community. Specifically, site planning involves the orderly, efficient, aesthetic and ecologically sensitive integration of man-made objects with a site's natural features, including topography, vegetation, drainage, water, wildlife and climate. Sensitive design produces development that minimizes environmental impacts and project costs, as well as adding value to a site.

• Urban Planning deals with designing and planning cities and towns. Urban planners use zoning techniques and regulations, master plans, conceptual plans, land-use studies and other methods to set the layout and organization of urban areas. This field also involves "urban design," the development of mostly open, public spaces, such as plazas and streetscapes.

• Regional Landscape Planning has emerged as a major area of practice for many landscape architects with the rise of the public's environmental awareness in the past thirty years. It merges landscape architecture with environmental planning. In this field, landscape architects deal with the full spectrum of planning and managing land and water, including natural resource surveys, preparation of environmental impact statements, visual analysis, landscape reclamation and coastal zone management.

• Park and Recreation Planning involves creating or redesigning parks and recreational areas in cities, suburban and rural areas. Landscape architects also develop plans for large natural areas as part of national park, forest and wildlife refuge systems.

• Land Development Planning can be done for large-scale, multi-acre parcels of undeveloped land and smaller scale sites in urban, rural and historic areas. It provides a bridge between policy planning and individual development projects. Landscape architects working in this area require a knowledge of real estate economics and development regulation processes, as well as an understanding of the physical constraints of developing and working with the land. The challenge is to integrate economic factors with good design and thus create quality environments. Due to this blending of expertise, landscape architects are often selected to head multi-disciplinary design teams.

• Ecological Planning and Design studies the interaction between people and the natural environment. It is concerned with interpretation, analysis and formulation of design policies, guidelines and plans to ensure the quality of the environment. This specialization includes analytical evaluations of the land and focuses on the suitability of a site for development. It requires specific knowledge of environmental laws such as the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, Federal wetlands regulations, and so on. This specialization also encompasses highway design and planning.

• As population growth leads to additional development, Historic Preservation and Reclamation of sites such as parks, gardens, grounds, waterfronts, and wetlands increasingly involves landscape architects. This field may involve preservation or maintenance of a site in relatively static condition, conservation of a site as part of a larger area of historic importance, restoration of a site to a given date or quality, and renovation of a site for ongoing or new use. Landscape architects often participate from the research through the actual restoration stage.

• Social and Behavioral Aspects of Landscape Design focuses on the human dimension of design, such as designing for the people with special needs, such as the elderly and the disabled. This field requires advanced training in social sciences, such as behavioral psychology, sociology, anthropology and economics. Areas of study include design evaluation of existing environments, environmental perceptions and effects of environments on people.

Landscape Architecture in the Future
The years ahead promise new developments and challenges for this ever-broadening profession. As environmental concerns become increasingly important, landscape architects are called upon to solve complex problems with long-term impacts. Rural concerns are attracting landscape architects to farmland preservation, small town revitalization, landscape preservation and resource development and conservation.

Technological advances have opened the field of computerized design. Land reclamation has become a new area of emphasis. Landscape architects are now working within indoor environments such as atriums and enclosed pedestrian space for commercial development projects. From southern California to the Maine coast, the names of landscape architecture firms appear on signs heralding future developments, as more people seek the expertise and services of the profession.

The future also promises increased cooperation among landscape architects and other design professionals. Students are studying the profession in increasing numbers. Seventy-five universities and colleges in the United States now offer accredited baccalaureate and post-graduate programs in landscape architecture. Forty-six states license landscape architects. Headquartered today in Washington, D.C., the American Society of Landscape Architects has grown to more than 13,500 members in 48 chapters.

Over the years, the profession has responded to increased demand and professional responsibilities with new skills and expertise. Today, more businesses appreciate the value that landscape architecture brings to a project. The public appreciates the enhanced balance landscape architects bring to the built and natural environments.

The profession continues to evolve as it meets the challenges of a society interested in improving both its quality of life and wise use of the land. Today, landscape architects are actively shaping our world in the new century.