Courage to leave gaps in landscape architecture education

Abstract

Digitalisation in landscape architecture education has changed the assignments students receive, how they work, are supervised, and their learning output. During the 27 years I have been teaching, design assignments have become more complex; due to increasing knowl¬edge and information gathering, the pressing challenges that society faces, and the vast possibilities that digital tools offer. As a result, the discipline changed from a design-orient¬ed practised, coping primarily with questions on aesthetics of space, to a field expected to contribute to solving today's problematic relationship between humans and nature using the most advanced digital data and tools. These digital tools, like the hand drawings, need much practice and are not always content-driven since the produced images look polished, often not leaving an opening for discussion.

Nevertheless, the length of study has not increased; quite the contrary. Therefore, be¬cause of the expansion of the discipline, educators must be selective about the educational program they offer. At TU Delft, for example, the master track of Landscape Architecture focuses on design. In the first year, the program strictly teaches disciplinary knowledge and skills and challenges the students to become critical thinkers in their graduation year. Students themselves formulate their graduation assignment within an offered research top¬ic. To do so, they must reflect on their discipline, knowledge and skills and question every step they take. We consciously ask them to leave gaps and tell them to limit themselves. Other schools focus on other topics, and their students gather different knowledge. In the Netherlands, three Landscape Architecture schools provide three various programs. Ideally, all schools cover the discipline's breadth based on the general fundamentals of Landscape Architecture. After graduation, our alumni are ready to contribute to disciplinary, interdisci¬plinary, or transdisciplinary collaborations to solve complex assignments and create new healthy environments open for change.