EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT
BECOMING A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT
IN NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS (NBS)
Are your students fascinated by architecture? Are they interested in integrating nature in urban areas? Do they feel passionate about common urban spaces and social projects? If this is so, they could pursue their professional dream by becoming a Landscape Architect! Landscape Architects mainly plan, design, and construct urban spaces to improve environmental health in the cities. From park designing to trails and squares construction, their main aim is to strengthen and improve the quality of neighbourhoods and communities. This job profile requires a wide range of skills such as analytical reasoning, engineering, business storytelling, collaboration, marketing, and initiative. If you have students that fit in this description, let them know about this professional career. Introduce them to Ildefonso García, a Landscape Architect in Nature-Based Solutions!
SKILLS
Find out about the key skills to become a Landscape Architect in Nature-Based Solutions.
Research
As a landscape architect, it is necessary to research the urban and environmental needs of the area to be developed. It is essential to understand the social needs and behaviours before planning and designing the project. Therefore, research skill is needed to be a landscape architect.
Creativity
Not only you need analytical skills, but also creativity to design impactful and aesthetically pleasing projects. landscape architects need to be creative to put together the necessary elements following the environmental and urban criteria.
Computer Graphics
To carry out their projects, landscape architects need a deep understanding of IT skills, more concretely computer graphics software. It mainly includes the design and rendering of projects with the computer.
Problem Solving
To be a landscape architect means that you need the ability to solve unexpected problems and be at ease with them. Projects might end up differently as to how they were planned initially, either due to a budget cut or lack of agreement between the interested parties.
Social Skills
Landscape architects deal with many people from a professional point of view to carry out their projects. The research and planning process involves getting in touch with people to fully understand their needs, so social skills are convenient.
Initiative
When planning projects, a landscape architect will aim to improve the community or neighbourhood by empathising with the local people. It is about putting yourself in their shoes to know and understand their needs, local traditions, and environmental concerns.
Curious to
know more?
Meet lldefonso García, a Landscape Architect in Nature-Based Solutions
Ildefonso García has a bachelor’s in architecture from the Architecture School of Coruña (Spain). Since 2012, he has been working as a Landscape Architect specialised in digitalisation. Basically, Ildefonso applies a multidisciplinary approach to enhance and rehabilitate culturally and socially significant buildings in natural spaces. “As an architect, my main project consists of making homes more efficient, and as a landscaper, I look for trails to be transformed into friendly and appealing pathways for people to walk or ride a bicycle.”
“Think global and act in local”
by Ildefonso García)
In this 11th episode of our STE(A)M IT STEM Careers Podcast, Eddy Grand-Meyer from European Schoolnet spoke with Ildefonso García, a Nature-Based Landscape Architect.
Fascinated by the sustainability and rehabilitation of old urban structures, Ildefonso García tell us about his job as a Landscape Architect, the professional skills needed, and how he tributes to nature-based solutions. “Some of my projects consists of revitalising gardens in my city by integrating them into the green-blue infrastructures”. He also gives his advice to students: “Think global and act in local”. Listen to the full interview to learn more about his profession!
CC BY 4.0: all the materials and content presented on this STEM Job profile have been co-created by STE(A)M IT, a project funded by the European Union’s ERASMUS+ programme project STE(A)M IT (Grant agreement 612845-EPP-1-2019-1- BE-EPPKA3-PI-FORWARD), in collaboration with the Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) phase 2, a pilot project initiated and funded by the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. European Schoolnet (EUN) oversees the interviewing and creating of the NBS Career Sheets, with the support of VO EUROPE.
