ASLA Releases Report on Landscape Architecture and STEM
ASLA has issued a white paper, Landscape Architecture Is a STEM Discipline, which compiles evidence that landscape architecture sits firmly within the category of STEM disciplines.
2021-07-12
ASLA has issued a white paper, Landscape Architecture Is a STEM Discipline, which compiles evidence that landscape architecture sits firmly within the category of STEM disciplines. The white paper reviews the current state of landscape architecture education and licensure with respect to STEM disciplines and compares landscape architecture education to the educational content of other fields that are widely considered to be STEM disciplines. In addition, the paper outlines the many governmental agencies at the federal and state level that already define landscape architecture as a STEM discipline.
Through advocacy, communication, and research, ASLA is working to raise the visibility of the profession’s innate STEM qualities with the STEM community, the general public, and federal, state, and local stakeholders and policy makers.
ASLA has highlighted landscape architecture as a STEM-based, problem-solving profession through a series of activities and resources, including the Landscape Architecture and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): Case Studies, Landscape Architecture: A STEM Profession, and social media campaigns known as STEM Saturdays.
As part of this initiative, ASLA’s Government Affairs team is continuing to document and highlight the extent to which state governments consider landscape architecture a STEM discipline. For example, the white paper points out that the labor departments in both New York and Connecticut recognize landscape architecture as a STEM profession. Additionally, the state of Florida recognizes landscape architecture as a STEM degree program through the Board of Governors’ State University System’s list of programs of strategic emphasis.
Would you like to get involved in this important effort? Tell ASLA Government Affairs about any statements, actions, or other designations that your state or local government has taken to recognize landscape architecture as a STEM discipline. Your contributions will go a long way in helping ASLA clearly demonstrate that landscape architecture is a STEM discipline.
Tell us about your state's STEM actions by emailing us at governmentaffairs@asla.org using the subject line STEM.