The landscape is a life-sustaining ecosystem shared by all that inhabit the earth. It is the cities and towns where we live and work, the parks and gardens where we play, the fields that nourish our bodies and supply our economies, and the wilderness that restores us. Pressures from a growing population and a changing climate mandate that we look beyond the aesthetic potential of the designed landscape so as to engage it as a territory of experience, activity and interpretation, and a strategy through which contemporary challenges facing regions, cities and the people that inhabit them–access to healthy food and clean water, environmental degradation, public health –are addressed.
The sustainable landscape design concentration positions students for careers through which they impact the way in which we live, work and play and shape the health of our environment through the applied arts and sciences of the designed landscape. Studies include plant materials, design development and communication, construction methods, environmental science, and ecological systems. Through strategic advising, students will be positioned for careers as design/build entrepreneurs, specialized consultants to professional design teams, or for advanced placement in UT’s School of Landscape Architecture.
The question offer arises, "What is the difference between landscape architecture and landscape design?"
Landscape Architecture — is a regulated and licensed profession focusing on a wide variety of scales from residential design to large-scale master planning and land use studies. In the State of Tennessee one must possess a degree from an accredited program, work under the supervision of a licensed landscape architect for two years, and then pass the Council of Landscape Architecture Registration Board exam before being able to use the title "Landscape Architect."
Landscape Design — provides opportunities to perform work more related to garden design through residential-scale studies and involving detailed horticultural expertise. Additional amenities such as water features and garden ponds, patios, outdoor lighting, irrigation design and planting design are but a few of the components involved when a student chooses landscape design as a concentration. Students with a bachelor's degree(BS) in the Plant Sciences—Landscape Design concentration also find themselves perfectly trained to continue to pursue a Master Degree in Landscape Architecture (MLA) should they choose to do so. You can find more information about the MLA degree on the Graduate School website.
Sustainable Landscape Design Lead:
Dr. Brad Collett
252 Ellington Plant Sciences Building
2431 Joe Johnson Drive
Knoxville, TN 37996-4561
Phone: (865) 974-7176
Email: bcollett@utk.edu