Programme Introduction
Landscape architecture is an increasingly critical discipline that binds a core capacity in design and planning with fluency in ecology, civil engineering, and geography. This interdisciplinarity extends back to landscape architecture’s origins, where the profession and its antecedents engaged with the challenges of human settlement and environmental risk; planning for health, recreation, and conservation in the industrialising city; and remediating the landscapes of pollution that followed. Landscape architecture today faces challenges of rapid urbanisation, resource depletion, climate change, rising sea-levels, and declining biodiversity. Whether you end up engaging with a corporate client, informing a government body, or participating with an environmental non-profit, our degree will give you the critical, creative, and intellectual tools to advocate for just and sustainable change moving forward.
The BA(LS) education centres on the design studio — a collaborative and intense environment where you work closely with your instructors on guided research and design strategies for a wide range of real-world and theoretical problems. The studio builds your strengths in creative speculation, critical thinking, analytical methodologies, and iterative problem solving. You will become adept at geospatial analysis, confident with digital tools and fabrication processes, and experts in a range of graphic media. Outside of the design studio, you will take courses in landscape technology and ecology, the international history and core theories of landscape architecture, and visual communication.
Rising global awareness of environmental and quality of life issues has strengthened demand for landscape solutions. Many of our graduates work with landscape architects, architects, engineers, ecologists, planners, contractors, or landscape managers. Others join government offices, non-profit organisations, or advocacy groups. Some of our graduates choose to pursue specialised academic studies and research in landscape architecture or related design fields at HKU or other educational institutions in Asia, Australia, Europe, and the US.
