Education

Landscape architecture is studied at the Faculty of Agriculture since 1937, in continuity with established trends of the development of the profession as well as with other European studies of landscape architecture.


Creating the curriculum for the study of landscape architecture (between 1989 and 1994) was preceded by a survey of needs for personnel at all possible employers (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Physical Planning and Construction, the National office for the protection of nature and environment, City offices for construction, utility and housing affairs, transport and communications, Croatian Chamber of Economy, Croatian Chamber of architects and engineers in Civil engineering, Urban Planning Institutes and Departments, Local work organizations, project bureaus). All the institutions affirmed the need for this kind of personnel and the establishment of study.


The Study of Landscape Architecture was founded in 1996 by the model of European Studies of Landscape Architecture, which at that time were already in the process of reform by the Bologna Declaration. The study then reviewed on six universities with prominent studies of landscape architecture that are comparable with the study program of Landscape Architecture:


1.    University of Hannover, Institut fur Landschaftspflege und Naturschutz; Faculty of Landscape architecture, Protection and Development,
2.    University of Horticulture and Food Industry, Budapest;
3.    Agricultural University of Norway, Department of Landscape and Land use planning;
4.    Agricultural University, Department of Landscape Architecture, Wageningen;
5.    Hariot Watt University, Edinburg;
6.    Landscape architecture Department, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana


With the Croatian inclusion in the European integration diploma is accepted by the criteria set by the EFLA (European Foundation for Landscape Architecture). The study of ‘’Landscape Architecture’’ is derived from the  study of “Landscape Design”, which was created on the basis of physical and social needs of the Republic of Croatia and is realized on the basis of long-standing dedication and persistence of the Faculty of Agriculture for its establishment, interdisciplinary, in cooperation with:


–    Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb
–    Faculty of Philosophy, University of Zagreb
–    Faculty of Surveying, University of Zagreb
–    Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Zagreb
–    Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb
–    Biotechnical faculty, University of Ljubljana


Faculties signed the Agreement on the organization and teaching the interdisciplinary study of landscape design at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb. In the next years a lot of effort was put into the affirmation of the profession in the society so that the engineers who completed landscape design and masters of landscape architecture were recognized in the Croatian Chamber of Architects and Civil Engineers (1998) and earned the status and definition of the profession within the Class of the Architects – expert profession of authorized Landscape Architects.
In order to address the diverse physical problems, tasks and caring for the environment, broad education is necessary, both in the field of social affairs and spatial features and processes that influence the changes in the landscape. Therefore, it is an interdisciplinary study, especially in the organization of teaching and knowledge that is the basis of landscape architecture and were taken from: natural sciences and ecology, socio-economic, technical and design and planning disciplines.


The professional tasks of the study are acquiring cognitive and creative abilities in landscape design and landscape planning.


1.    Landscape design is spatial deployment of landscape elements and their physical determination in order to achieve adequate functional, environmentally balanced and artistically structural units.
2.    Landscape planning is protective planning within which the knowledge about the natural values is prepared and the measures for their protection are determined.
The study of landscape architecture at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb educates young professionals in the field of planning, design and management of landscapes, which means and includes landscape protection, preservation and enhancement of natural and cultural heritage, protection of natural resources by the rational use of the land, protection and restoration of historical parks and gardens and organization, design and construction of new landscapes.




The program is carried out by introducing students to theoretical and practical knowledge of many disciplines, encouraging them and developing their creative and intellectual thinking with the methods of scientific research, as well as learning through work on individual and team tasks in the field of landscape planning and design.
The study of landscape architecture is a five-year study that is performed in two stages, thus enabling comparability and mobility of the students according to Bologna process. Upon the completion of the study a Master’s Degree for the engineer of landscape architecture is awarded which is in line with the needs of the society, EU directives and standards.


Undergraduate study of landscape architecture
Duration: 3 years
ECTS: 180
Admission requirements: Completed four-year high school, school examination passed and additional verification of knowledge, skills and abilities.
Professional or academic title or degree awarded upon completion of the study:
Bachelor engineer of landscape architecture (bacc.ing.prosp.arch.)


Competences awarded upon completion of undergraduate study:
Persons who complete this study can enrol the graduate studies in landscape architecture. In addition, they acquire competencies for collaborative work and independent work on less demanding tasks in the field of landscape architecture in accordance with applicable regulations.
The possibility of further studies: Graduate study of landscape architecture


Graduate study of landscape architecture
Duration: 2 years
ECTS: 120
Admission requirements:
– Finished Undergraduate study of landscape architecture – 180 ECTS and acquired academic title of / a Bachelor / bachelor engineer / engineer of landscape architecture (direct entry)
– Finished Undergraduate study of other colleges and universities and passed additional verification of knowledge, skills and abilities for the graduate study of landscape architecture.
Professional or academic title or degree awarded upon completion of the study:
Master engineer of landscape architecture (mag.ing.prosp.arch.)


The person who finishes graduate is qualified to:
1.    involve in the strategic and spatial planning on the landscape (protective) planning and make studies and reports evaluation, identification of valuable natural and cultural landscapes, protection of the landscape and make studies of environmental impact assessment;
2.    participate in design of developmental and urban plans and independently elaborate ideas about new green areas (green systems);
3.    create landscape projects in the area of landscape and investment technical documentation for all types of open / outer space within the urban and rural areas, for the regulation of agricultural units, the arrangement of degraded areas and for the restoration of historical gardens;
4.    create a landscape that satisfies the human and natural requirements (taking into account the protection of the natural environment and cultural heritage);
5.    define guidelines for long-term management and maintenance of built landscape structures;
6.    manage and supervise the works on the facilities of landscape architecture
7.    participate in the development and harmonization of legislation, standards, technical standards and other general acts;
8.    participate in the education of professionals in the field of landscape architecture at all levels, both in educational institutions and in other forms of education throughout life.


Within these areas landscape architect is qualified to:
a)    compare the designing and planning theories, concepts and approaches, recognize the different traditions in the design and planning of the landscape, and is capable to incorporate the knowledge about landscape architecture into a multidisciplinary framework;
b)    apply the known and develop new approaches to the design and planning of the landscape in a variety of spatial scales and for different periods of time and is able to evaluate the consequences of alternative choices;
c)    creatively and effectively organize all the relevant data, synthesize concrete designing and planning problem and submit alternative solutions of landscape interventions to the identified problems;
d)    connect the current and future initiatives, projects and strategies that affect the organization, use and management of space;
e)    evaluate the importance of different types of socio-political discourse of space to recognize and diagnose conflicts in the urban and rural landscape and to propose solutions that will improve its social and environmental quality;
f)    present scientific views on landscape issues to members of scientific and non-scientific communities by speaking and in writing, and using appropriate visual media;
g)    carry out a critical analysis of the landscape using interconnected knowledge of regional and local policies, and social and spatial multi-dimensional data on the landscape;
h)    define landscape issues in spatial plans of higher and lower levels;
i)    by the development and application of theoretical concepts define problems and goals as well as to identify opportunities and constraints for the design and planning of landscapes;
j)    independently formulate and carry out scientific research on all aspects of the landscape;
k)    independently design projects in the planning and designing of the landscape at all levels;
l)    distinguish different levels of complexity of landscape issues and to form an independent and critical attitude.


Competences awarded upon completion of the graduate studies:
People who complete the study are qualified for all the activities in the field of the landscape architecture (as landscape planners or designers, researchers or collaborators, as leaders or team members):
–    In the project offices, urban institutes, companies for the construction, maintenance and care of urban greenery
–    The scientific-research institutes
–    In secondary and higher education for the profession of landscape architecture
–    In institutions for protecting natural and cultural heritage, environmental protection
–    In administrative city services and ministries
–    In chambers and the professional bodies of professional associations and companies in the organization and promotion of the professional activities of landscape architecture


The possibility of further studies:
Postgraduate (PhD) study of Agricultural Sciences (landscape architecture)