Landscape Horticulture

Landscape horticulture involves the investigation and designed response to the landscape. The scope of the profession includes architectural design, site planning, environmental restoraton, town or urban planning, parks and recreation planning. The history of landscape architecture is related to the history of gardening but is not coextensive. Both arts are concerned with the composition of planting, landform, water, paving and other structures but garden design is essentially concerned with enclosed private space (parks, gardens etc) and landscape design is concerned with the design of enclosed space, as well as unenclosed space which is open to the public (town squares, country parks, park systems, greenways etc). Landscape architecture continues to develop as a design discipline, and has responded to many of the movements of design and architecture through the 20th century. Today, a healthy level of innovation continues to provide challenging design solutions for streetscapes, parks and gardens. Landscape architecture is a multi-disciplinary field, which includes: geography, mathematics, science, engineering, art, horticulture, technology, social sciences, politics, history, philosophy and more recently, ecology. The activities of a landscape architect can range from the creation of public parks and parkways to site planning for corporate office buildings, from the design of residential estates to the design of civil infrastructure and the management of large wilderness areas or reclamation of degraded landscapes such as mines or landfills. Landscape architects work on all types of structures and external space - large or small, urban or rural, and with "hard"/"soft" materials, hydrology and ecological issues. The breadth of the professional task that landscape architects collaborate on is very broad, but some examples of project types include: The planning, form, scale and siting of new developments; Civil design and public infrastructure; Stormwater management including rain gardens, green roofs and treatment wetlands; Campus and site design for institutions; Parks, botanical gardens, arboretums, greenways, and nature preserves; Recreation facilities like golf courses, theme parks and sports facilities; Housing areas, industrial parks and commercial developments; Highways, transportation structures, bridges, and transit corridors; Urban design, town and city squares, waterfronts, pedestrian schemes, and parking lots; Large or small urban regeneration schemes; Forest, tourist or historic landscapes, and historic garden appraisal and conservation studies; Reservoirs, dams, power station, reclamation of extractive industry applications or major industrial projects; Environmental assessment and landscape assessment, planning advice and land management proposals; Coastal and offshore developments; Ecological Design any form of design that minimizes environmentally destructive impacts by integrating itself with natural processes.