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In a world of complex social and environmental challenges, our Master of Landscape Architecture positions you to be a leader in creative, design-based problem solving.
The three-year, STEM-designated MLA prepares students from diverse educational and professional backgrounds for the practice of landscape architecture through engagement in applied scholarship with an emphasis on sustainable design strategies.
We employ real-world learning experiences that enable you to meet the most critical design challenges of the built environment.
Our MLA program is fully accredited through the Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB).
What You'll Learn
In the MLA, you’ll learn:
- Landscape architecture history, theory and criticism
- Design and design methods
- Sustainable design strategies and natural processes
- Socio-cultural factors in design
- Design implementation
- Professional communication, documentation and technology
- Professional practice
- Research and scholarly methods
You’ll graduate ready to thrive in a profession of increasing importance in the face of climate change, growing urban populations and challenges to social equity.
View public information on program performance:
I plan to build from my MLA experience to help leverage traditional conservation tactics and funding to transform urban access to wildlife habitat and connected natural areas.
Mario Nuño-Whelan '20 MLA
The MLA combines a robust studio experience with real-world projects. Most students earn the degree in three years.
Students with prior training in landscape architecture or architecture may enter the program with advanced standing, shortening their time to a degree.
Students in select undergraduate programs may enter the MLA through the accelerated master’s program.
Application Deadlines
Program Cost
Demand for trained landscape architects is high and growing in Arizona and the nation. Graduates can expect to work with allied professionals including architects, ecologists and biologists, historians and anthropologists, engineers and urban planners to design public and private outdoor places.
The MLA Student Experience
At CAPLA, students and faculty collaborate on real-world projects that take advantage of Tucson’s unique location in the Sonoran Desert, our Research I and land-grant university status and our state-of-the art, award-winning facilities.
Expect to work with practitioners and local communities on a variety of projects that strengthen your design and professional skills.
Meet the MLA Community
Student Profile
Mario Nuño-Whelan '20 Master of Landscape Architecture
Mario Nuño-Whelan served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru before joining CAPLA's Master of Landscape Architecture program, where he also works as the Green Infrastructure Design Scholar for Tucson Clean & Beautiful.
Faculty Profile
Bo Yang, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
Providing authentic learning opportunities to students when working with low-income and underserved communities is the most compelling part of Professor Yang's work.
Alumni Profile
Kendra Hyson '15 Master of Landscape Architecture
With her MLA, Kendra Hyson has followed a path to leadership not just in landscape architecture but also in the movement for social equity in built environment design—as both a founder of The Urban Studio and in her current role as a landscape architect and planner in Washington, D.C.
Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
The University of Arizona is one of only two universities in the country to offer Coverdell Fellowships to returned Peace Corps volunteers who are enrolled in a graduate landscape architecture program. Coverdell Fellows find a robust Peace Corps community at the university and in Tucson, and many are CAPLA alumni. View more information about the program, including scholarships:
Ready to make your impact through sustainable design?
Learn more about the Master of Landscape Architecture by contacting us at capla-grad@arizona.edu or begin your application now:
Header image by MLA team that placed second in the 2020 EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge.