Master of Landscape Architecture

A key strength of Berkeley’s MLA program is that it brings together designers and scientists. In the landscape architecture track, you’ll learn how to apply social and ecological science to design and planning, while in the environmental planning track, you’ll develop a keen awareness of how design intersects with land-use decisions. Our MLA program prepares you for careers in private design firms, public agencies, and nonprofit organizations, as well as teaching positions at leading institutions.

Berkeley’s Master of Landscape Architecture is centered around both design studio and fieldwork. As an MLA student, you’ll work closely with your classmates and professors in our light-filled open-plan studio to develop and represent your design ideas. You’ll also be out in the field, identifying plants at Blake Garden, participating in river restoration projects, monitoring air quality, and more. We encourage you to identify your own creative and research passions, with the support of your faculty advisor.

In the environmental planning track (MLA EP), you’ll develop skill sets to integrate information from various disciplines — geology, soils, hydrology, plant and wildlife ecology, law, and public policy — and present it in ways both comprehensible and compelling to decision makers.

Offering you a rich intellectual community rooted in the dynamic contexts of UC Berkeley, the Bay Area, and beyond, California is the ideal place to study landscape architecture and environmental planning. As the birthplace of social justice advocacy and the environmental movement, 21st-century California brings issues of equity, urbanization, and climate change into stark relief. Its diverse population, 40 million strong, and its rich and varied environmental conditions — coasts, deserts, mountains, cities, suburbs, exurbs, and agricultural regions — makes it the ideal laboratory for our discipline.

As a UC Berkeley graduate student, you will be studying at the number one public university in the United States alongside the brightest and most passionate students from across the globe. Berkeley’s environment of critical inquiry, discovery, and innovation is informed by a deep commitment to contributing to a better world. 

The Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning (LAEP), established at UC Berkeley in 1913, was one of the founding departments in the College of Environmental Design. When the college was created in 1959, it was the first in the nation to unite the disciplines of architecture, planning, and landscape architecture, leading the way toward an integrated approach to analyzing, understanding, and designing our built environment. The college emphasizes environmental design as a profoundly ethical practice, inseparable from social, political, economic, and cultural contexts and co-produced through dynamic engagements with diverse communities.

LAEP is a small department, so you’ll develop close ties with our eminent faculty. As an incoming MLA student, you’ll be matched with a faculty advisor, who will help guide you as you begin to define the focus for your education.

Our multidisciplinary faculty have backgrounds in design, science, and planning — all grounded in a shared value for environmental justice and commitment to address the changing climate. They engage in research and teaching across a range of landscape scales to build inclusive, vibrant cities; construct resilient metropolitan ecologies; restore degraded ecosystems; and meet the challenge of climate change. Their research includes the design of innovative public spaces, from small-scale green spaces, streetscapes, and public plazas, to planning for ecological infrastructure, resource-efficient community design, urban forestry and environmental restoration, and landscape ecology.

The three-year MLA (3D) is the first professional degree for students with non-design backgrounds. We welcome students with undergraduate degrees in any discipline. 

In this track, you’ll learn to apply scientific methods and harness your knowledge of plant and construction materials to design meaningful landscapes. It’s organized around the core design studio, which is the setting for the synthesis and integration of technical, environmental, historical, and theoretical course offerings. Specialized modules introduced in the studio each semester may include: planting design, grading and earthwork, computer-aided design, materials and detailing, and drawing. At the end of your first year, you’ll be ready to join the incoming cohort of students in the two-year track.

The two-year MLA is the second professional degree for students with first degrees in landscape architecture, architecture, or environmental design.

The MLA 2D provides flexibility for specialization in advanced design and research. If you have a background in architecture, you’ll take classes in plant identification and landscape history, while those who already have an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture have more flexibility in their program of study.

Like the three-year option, the 2D MLA is organized around the core design studio, which is the setting for the synthesis and integration of technical, environmental, historical, and theoretical course offerings. Specialized modules introduced in the studio each semester may include: planting design, grading and earthwork, computer-aided design, materials and detailing, and drawing. You’ll learn to apply scientific methods and harness your knowledge of plant and construction materials to design meaningful landscapes. 

If you have a strong background in the environmental sciences or management, and if you want to work at the nexus of science and design to impact land use policy, the two-year environmental planning MLA degree (MLA EP) might be the right fit for you. As an environmental planner, you’ll apply the natural and social sciences to promote environmentally sound development and management of natural resources. broad field that bridges the disciplines of geology, soils, hydrology, plant and wildlife ecology, law, and public policy. With a MLA in environmental planning, you will learn how to bring analytical, managerial, and policy-making skills to bear on decisions about the appropriate use of land and natural resources.

You’ll acquire the skills to act as an intermediary between natural scientists and planning agencies, using landscape architectural physical planning and site design to inspire more creative and ecologically informed plans and to help mitigate the detrimental effects of development.

In your final year of the MLA program, you have the choice between completing a thesis or comprehensive exam, which can take the form of a professional project or designated studio. The thesis is for students who wish to do original research on a problem in landscape architecture or environmental planning.

The option for those who do not wish to complete a thesis is a comprehensive exam, which can take the form of either a professional project or, for MLA 2D and 3D only, a designated studio that demonstrates broad competence plus the concepts and skills necessary to the field of landscape architecture

The professional project consists of a report of not more than 40 pages of text with appropriate professional drawings that documents a real-world project. 

Alternatively, you can fulfill the final degree requirement through the successful completion of a comprehensive exam studio taken in your final semester. Please note: Students who are in the environmental planning track or in one of the concurrent degree programs are not eligible for the comprehensive exam studio option.

At CED, you can expand your course of study by earning either a Master of Architecture or a Master of City Planning degree alongside your MLA.

In your final semester, you’ll take our professional practice course, which prepares you for your future job search and career. You will be matched with a local professional for an internship and will learn networking, interviewing, and resume-writing skills. You’ll also have opportunities to meet alums and learn what it means to be a practicing, licensed landscape architect.

All of our students also have access to one-on-one counseling offered by the College of Environmental Design career counselor, as well as Berkeley’s robust career services, for up to two years after graduation.

The depth and reach of our pedagogy well prepares you  to join design and planning consulting firms, public agencies, and nonprofit organizations as well as to hold teaching positions at leading institutions around the world. Our graduates are prepared to serve as national and international landscape design and planning leaders, building thriving communities in a world of rapid political, economic, and environmental change.

Graduates of the environmental planning track work in a variety of professional settings, including the U.S. Forest Service, Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, state and regional agencies responsible for management of natural resources and protection of sensitive areas. Some are employed in firms that undertake large-scale analyses and plans for public agencies, and the design of privately financed development projects. Others work with international development agencies or nongovernmental organizations concerned with preservation of environmental values.

Public Information Policy Programs accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board (LAAB) are required to provide reliable information to the public. Programs must report on accreditation status and its performance. This information is to help potential students make informed application decisions. Review the department’s LAAB disclosure.

We are committed to recruiting students of outstanding achievement and potential, regardless of ability to pay. 

UC Berkeley begins accepting applications in early September for the following fall term only (no spring admissions). The fall semester begins in mid-August. 

We recommend you start the application process as soon as possible. As a prospective graduate student, you’ll submit your application through UC Berkeley’s Graduate Division. You’ll find lots of useful information on the Graduate Division website, including application instructions and information about funding your education.

Only online applications (including letters of recommendation) are accepted. All documents, regardless of language of instruction, must be translated into the English language. Transcripts, diplomas, and certificates should be provided in the original language of instruction AND in English. Transcripts must show your full name, degree  conferral date, and degree.