About the department

Champions of landscape architecture

Landscape architecture is essential. In a world facing growing social inequality and climate crisis, our profession has the power to design solutions that can make a crucial difference.

As the largest and only independent Department of Landscape Architecture in the UK, it is the heart of what we do.

With 20 full-time, landscape-focused academic staff, we teach across the full breadth of the discipline.

Our approach to landscape architecture integrates design, planning and management with ecological systems, social and cultural values and art and design and we have the expertise to encourage our students’ ambitions in the areas that excite them the most.

Our teaching is driven by discoveries made through world-leading research. We are committed to ensuring these advancements reach beyond our Arts Tower home, helping to influence policy and shape day-to-day practice.

We pride ourselves on providing a supportive and friendly environment in which all students can thrive. Our ‘one school’ ethos ensures students have the opportunity to collaborate between year groups and enrich each other’s learning. Student representation on a wide range of committees helps shape Department decision-making.

By instilling in our students an ethic of care for the land and the people who live within it, we aim to develop graduates capable of leading the profession in challenging times.

Our global community of alumni – who practice in more than 70 countries worldwide – do just that; we are proud champions of their work, as well as the transformative power of landscape architecture.

Reputation

We know how important league tables are for helping students make decisions and we are proud to be consistently ranked as one of the best places for landscape architecture education and research in the UK.

Some of our recent successes include:

• 1st for academic support for landscape, NSS 2023

• 3rd nationally in the REF 2021, in terms of the quality of our research

• 1st in the Guardian University League Tables 2024 for institutions offering Landscape Architecture

• 98% of our graduates surveyed are in employment or further study (2019/20 Graduate Outcomes survey, UK undergraduates)

Professional connections

We enjoy strong links with some of the best-known names in our profession. We regularly welcome leading practitioners to deliver guest lectures and workshops and we have enjoyed visits from Piet Oudolf, Martha Schwartz Partners, Julian Agyeman, Teresa Moller, Andrew Grant and Charlie Burrell, to name a few.

As well as hearing from some of the most inspiring practitioners in the field, these connections mean our students are well placed when it comes to cultivating valuable professional networks.

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I see the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield as the best in the world for their teaching on plants and plant communities.

Piet Oudolf

Landscape designer, nurseryman and author

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