The establishment of a program in landscape gardening and floriculture in the College of Agriculture at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1913 created the fifth landscape architecture program in the U.S. The program’s evolution into the Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, a constituent part of the College of Environmental Design, reflects the transformation of the profession from one focusing primarily on the design of private estates and parks to one concerned with the design and management of the urban and regional landscape. The Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning offers students an opportunity to focus on the relationship of natural and built environments. The program of study provides a strong foundation in the natural and social sciences. It includes training in both traditional skills and advanced methods such as those available through the Environmental Simulation Lab and the teaching laboratory in computer graphics and mapping. Public values are stressed through courses in environmental law and community participation in planning and design, and through an overriding concern for the protection of the environment.

Faculty research is diverse. Students are encouraged to work directly with faculty on topics ranging from stream restoration to land use planning for earthquake disaster prevention, from the social uses of urban open space to suburban densification, from the art of meanings of gardens to visual assessment of sacred places. Students may also work as teaching assistants or in the private practices of faculty members and the Bay Area professional community. In addition to research and work opportunities, the department encourages participation in student and faculty-sponsored extracurricular activities, such as field trips, exhibitions, design competitions, and charrettes.

The department has a number of unparalleled resources. A state-of-the-art computer facility provides an opportunity for advanced courses in computer-aided design and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The Environmental Simulation Lab provides facilities for computer, video, and film simulations of real and designed environments. The 10-acre Blake Garden, an early 20th-century Italianate estate located about two miles from the campus, offers a unique hands-on experience for students interested in planting design and horticulture. The Oakland Metropolitan Forum offers a living laboratory to test urban designs in an ethnically diverse central city. Beatrix Farrand’s Reef Point Library is located in the College of Environmental Design Library and includes a sizeable collection of rare books. The Environmental Design Archives contains works by Jekyll, Farrand, De Forest, Eckbo, and Church, among others. The archives’ holdings consist of drawings, plans, correspondence, reports, specifications, photographs, plant lists, subject files, and artifacts. In addition, the department’s setting in the College of Environmental Design and the San Francisco Bay Area provides the student with unsurpassed opportunities and resources.

Our graduates work in a variety of situations, from small private offices to large corporate practices with worldwide operations; local and regional government planning agencies; state and federal land management agencies; and regulatory agencies that protect coastal, alpine, and other sensitive areas.