Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, attractions and structures to ensure environmental, social or aesthetic results. It includes systematic study of existing social, ecological and soil conditions and processes in the landscape, and design of interventions that will produce the desired result. The scope of the profession includes landscape design; site planning; storm management; erosion control; environmental restoration; parks and recreation planning; visual resource management; green infrastructure planning and provision; and private real estate and residences landscape master planning and design; all at different scales of design, planning and management. The practitioner in the landscape architecture profession is called southern california landscape architects.
Landscape architecture is an interdisciplinary field including aspects of botany, horticulture, fine arts, architecture, industrial design, soil science, environmental psychology, geography, ecology and civil engineering. The activities of a landscape architect can range from establishing public parks and boulevards to planning sites for campuses and corporate office parks, ranging from designing residential complexes to designing civil infrastructure and management of large desert areas or reclamation of disturbed landscapes such as mines or landfills. Landscape architects work on structures and exterior spaces with constraints to the landscape or park aspect of the design – large or small, urban, suburban and rural, as well as with “hard” (embedded) and “soft” (planted) materials, in the process of integrating environmental sustainability. The most valuable contribution can be made during the first phase of the project to generate ideas with technical understanding and creative talent for the design, organization and use of spaces. The landscape architect can understand the overall concept and prepare a master plan, from which detailed drawings and technical specifications are prepared.