Landscape Architecture

About Landscape Architecture

Landscape architecture is the art, planning, design, management , preservation and rehabilitation of the land and the design of human-made constructs. The scope of the profession includes architectural design, site planning, housing estate development, environmental restoration, town or urban planning, urban design, parks and recreation planning, regional planning, landscape urbanism, and historic preservation. A practitioner in the field of landscape architecture is called a landscape architect.

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:

The Romans undertook landscape architecture on an extensive scale, and Vitruvius wrote on many topics (eg the layout of towns) which still concern landscape architects. As with the other arts, it was not until the Renaissance that garden design was revived, with outstanding examples including the pleasure grounds at the Villa d'Este, Tivoli. The renaissance garden developed through the 16th and 17th centuries, reaching an ultimate grandeur in the work of André le Nôtre at Vaux-le-Vicomte and Versailles.