Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism

3 Years On Campus Masters Program

Illinois Institute of Technology

Program Overview

The Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism (M.L.A.+U.) at Illinois Institute of Technology is a three-year, first-professional degree designed for students who want to address complex urban and socio-environmental challenges through landscape architecture, research, design, and technology. Students study urban landscapes through Design Studios, History, Theory, and Criticism, Ecology and Material Workshops, Design Media, and Professional Practice, with a strong emphasis on equity, ecology, technological innovation, and the contemporary metropolis.

Curriculum Structure

Year 1: Students establish core landscape architecture skills through LA 541 Landscape Architecture Studio I: Processes, LA 501 History, Theory, and Criticism I: Landscape Architecture Theory, and LA 525 Design Media I: Drawing and Modeling the Landscape. The year also introduces ecological and material thinking through LA 565 Ecology and Materials Workshop I: Plants and Planting, connecting design representation with landscape systems and living materials.

Year 2: Students move into more comprehensive urban and research-oriented work through LA 543 Landscape Architecture Studio III: Comprehensive Landscape Architecture, LA 504 History, Theory, and Criticism III: Landscape Architecture Research Seminar, and LA 516 Professional Practice of Landscape Architecture II: Landscape Architecture and Time. Advanced ecology and construction are developed through LA 567 Ecology and Materials Workshop III: Planting Design and Construction and LA 568 Ecology and Materials Workshop IV: Constructing the Urban Environment.

Year 3: The final year centers on advanced design and independent professional-level work, including LA 544 Landscape Architecture Studio IV, supported by LA 597 Landscape Architecture electives. Students consolidate their design, research, ecological, technological, and urban-planning capabilities while developing work that responds to contemporary landscape and metropolitan challenges.

Focus areas: Design justice, urban landscapes, ecology, social and environmental justice, climate change, biodiversity, post-industrial sites, water quality and management, emerging technologies, rapid urbanization, community participation, public space, landscape history and theory, and professional practice.

Learning outcomes: Students develop the ability to investigate complex socio-environmental conditions, create landscape and urban design strategies, work across disciplines, integrate ecological and technological knowledge, engage communities, and develop technically skilled and intellectually versatile landscape architecture solutions.

Professional alignment (accreditation): The three-year first-professional M.L.A.+U. is accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board (LAAB); Illinois Tech states that the program first received full accreditation in 2010 and underwent re-accreditation in winter 2025, with the final decision letter pending.

Reputation (employability rankings): Illinois Tech identifies the M.L.A.+U. as the only accredited landscape architecture program in Chicago and one of only a few accredited programs in major North American cities, giving students a distinctive setting for studying contemporary urban landscape challenges.

Experiential Learning (Research, Projects, Internships etc.)

The Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism (M.L.A.+U.) at Illinois Institute of Technology is strongly centered on learning by doing, with students investigating real urban and environmental challenges through design studios, ecology and materials workshops, digital media, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Students work in Chicago’s urban context while gaining access to S. R. Crown Hall, the Fabrication Center, the Graham Resource Center, dedicated computer laboratories, and digital and physical fabrication equipment. The curriculum specifically integrates manual and digital drawing, physical and digital modeling, advanced geospatial techniques, parametric design, digital fabrication, and research-based fieldwork:

Design Studios: Students work through a sequence of landscape architecture studios addressing site, city, comprehensive landscape architecture, and final projects. Studios can integrate students from architecture, landscape architecture, and other graduate programs, creating opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
Ecology and Materials Workshops: Dedicated workshops cover Plants and Planting, Earthworks and Infrastructures, Planting Design and Construction, and Constructing the Urban Environment, allowing students to connect ecological knowledge with material and construction processes.
Digital Design Tools: LA 526 Design Media II: Digital Media uses digital tools to conceptualize, represent, and communicate designed and engineered environments, while advanced studios incorporate parametric design, digital fabrication, model making, and advanced geospatial software.
Software & Computing: School of Architecture computer laboratories provide access to Adobe Creative Cloud, AutoCAD, Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Revit, Google Earth, and other computing resources. Students also have access to licensed Autodesk software and use Rhinoceros as part of the School’s digital-design environment.
Advanced Modeling & Fabrication: LA 527 Design Media III: Advanced Modeling and Fabrication develops modeling, rendering, scripting, and animation skills for complex three-dimensional surfaces, objects, and landscape and urban processes.
Fabrication Center: Students have access to an extensive fabrication facility containing laser cutters, CNC routers, 3D printers, plotters, woodworking and metalworking equipment, and other digital and analog tools for turning digital designs into physical models and prototypes.
Materials Laboratory: The Minerals & Metals Building houses the School’s comprehensive materials lab, with equipment for working with wood, metal, and plastics, as well as a large paint booth. Its large-scale space supports full-size mockups and Design/Build work.
Chicago-Based Fieldwork: The program uses Chicago as a living laboratory for investigating urban landscapes, public space, ecology, infrastructure, community conditions, and social and environmental challenges. Research seminars can include site visits to landscape architecture projects in the Chicago region.
International Field Experience: Illinois Tech’s landscape architecture students have participated in international exchange and fieldwork, including a 10-day Japan studio trip examining urban trees, landscapes, and planting traditions in Tokyo and other research sites. The resulting collaborative research with University of Tokyo students produced the TREES ALIVE! publication.
Community-Based Projects: M.L.A.+U. studios engage with real communities and urban conditions. One interdisciplinary project brought architecture and landscape architecture students together with the Chicago Department of Planning and Development to explore adaptive futures for closed schools and their surrounding neighborhoods in Bronzeville.
Landscape Research: Students have participated in research examining issues such as urban waterways, environmental impacts, and socio-environmental conditions. The Driverless City Project: The Socio-Environmental Implications to Urban Waters, involving M.L.A.+U. students and faculty from multiple Illinois Tech units, received an Illinois ASLA Honor Award for Research.
Graham Resource Center: Located inside Crown Hall, the Graham Resource Center provides specialized architecture and landscape-related research resources, with more than 19,000 volumes and collections covering Chicago history, landscape and the built environment, Mies van der Rohe, and School of Architecture theses and dissertations.
Made@IIT: The School’s Made@IIT research initiative connects digital, analog, materials research, and Design/Build activities, supporting experimentation in materials, technologies, applications, and design and construction research.
Crown Hall & Mies Campus: Students learn within S. R. Crown Hall, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and the surrounding Mies-designed campus, which provides a direct architectural and landscape context for studio and research work.

Progression & Future Opportunities

Graduates of Illinois Tech’s Master of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism (M.L.A.+U.) can pursue professional roles across landscape architecture firms, government and public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and universities. The program’s urban focus and emphasis on ecological, social, technological, and design challenges prepare graduates to work on complex metropolitan landscapes and contemporary urban development.

Typical career roles: Landscape Architect, Urban Landscape Designer, Urban Designer, Landscape Planning Specialist.

Career Services: Illinois Tech Career Services serves the College of Architecture and provides access to internships, research opportunities, job openings, professional-development workshops, employer connections, and the Handshake platform. Career fairs are held on campus, with employers recruiting students across architecture and related fields.
Industry connections: Illinois Tech has longstanding relationships between its architecture community and professional practice in Chicago, a city with a major landscape architecture and urbanism sector. Career Services also provides employers with opportunities to recruit Illinois Tech students for internships, co-ops, and full-time positions.
Professional opportunities: The program specifically identifies professional landscape architecture firms, government and public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and universities as career sectors for M.L.A.+U. graduates.
Internship & mentorship opportunities: The Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) Ignite program has provided an Illinois Tech landscape architecture student with a paid summer internship, mentorship, and a $10,000 annual scholarship, demonstrating an external professional-development pathway available to eligible landscape architecture students.
Employment statistics: Illinois Tech publishes first-destination and salary information through Career Services, but the university does not state a separate employment rate or starting-salary figure specifically for M.L.A.+U. graduates on the official program pages. Illinois Tech reports that its 2024 graduates' mean starting salary was above the national average, but this is university-wide data and should not be treated as an M.L.A.+U.-specific salary.
Accreditation value: The three-year first-professional M.L.A.+U. is accredited by the Landscape Architectural Accreditation Board (LAAB). Illinois Tech states that the program first received full accreditation in 2010 and underwent re-accreditation in winter 2025, with the final decision letter pending; LAAB accreditation is directly relevant to professional landscape architecture education and licensure pathways.
Graduate progression: Graduates can continue into advanced study and research in landscape architecture, urbanism, architecture, planning, and related fields. Illinois Tech also offers an M.Arch./M.L.A.+U. dual-degree pathway, while its Ph.D. in Architecture accepts applicants with an LAAB-accredited M.L.A. or equivalent for doctoral research.

Further Academic Progression: After completing the M.L.A.+U., students can pursue doctoral study in Architecture, undertake further graduate education in urban planning or related fields, or combine landscape architecture with architecture through IIT's M.Arch./M.L.A.+U. dual-degree pathway. A recent M.L.A.+U. graduate, for example, planned to continue at the University of Pennsylvania for a master's degree in city planning, illustrating how the degree can serve as a foundation for further specialization in urbanism and planning.