Landscape Architecture M.L.A.

Program Objectives/Goals:

In order to advance our mission of preparing students for careers as landscape architects who engage with

pressing issues across scales and across human and ecological systems, the landscape architecture programs at

the University of Minnesota focus on a set of educational goals.

Professional Skills + Knowledge:

o Provide learning experiences where students develop the professional skills and knowledge base required to

critically analyze, design, represent, and implement landscapes for human and more-than-human use and

well-being, ecological function, and climate resilience.

o Provide opportunities for students to engage with members of the robust Twin Cities design community to gain

professional perspectives on relevant aspects of design practice.

o Provide opportunities for students to collaborate with one another and with faculty and or students from allied

fields like architecture.

o Support ways students may complete their degrees in a timely and more affordable manner

o The MLA program has the additional goal of providing professional training in landscape architecture with the

opportunity to develop an individual interest related to the field through coursework and a capstone design

studio.

Iterative Design Processes:

o Enable students to develop iterative design processes that utilize both analog and digital techniques and

methods

Change-over-time, Place-based design, systems thinking

o Encourage analog and digital explorations of landscapes at a variety of scales and systems through various

modes of inquiry.

o Explore the complexities of the place-based contexts of a site and methods for designing with/for them

o Emphasize landscape change over time as both an essential characteristic of landscape and as an opportunity

for design innovation.

Minnesota + Midwest Context + Local Communities

o Emphasize place-based learning with a focus on the unique communities and ecologies of Minnesota and the

northern Midwest.

o Provide students with the opportunities to explore a range of local dynamic landscapes, including the

Mississippi River and the Great Lakes regions.

o Provide opportunities for students to learn from community experts to better understand local issues of social

justice.