Think about the last park you walked through, the plaza where people gathered or the path that led you safely from one street to another. Someone thought carefully about those spaces: where water drains, where shade falls, where children play and how people move through them. That is the heart of the question what is landscape architecture.
Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor spaces, from small community gardens to entire neighborhoods. It blends design, ecology and engineering with a deep focus on people. In this article, you will learn what landscape architects do, how the field differs from architecture and urban planning, and why public space matters so much in communities with limited infrastructure, including the hillside neighborhoods around Lima.
Landscape architects plan and design outdoor environments. Their work can include:
| Field | Main focus | Typical scale |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Buildings and interior spaces | A single building or complex |
| Landscape architecture | Outdoor spaces, land and ecology | A site, park or neighborhood |
| Urban planning | Land use, policy and growth | A district, city or region |
| Civil engineering | Infrastructure systems and structures | Roads, water, slopes and structures |
In practice, these professionals work side by side. A hillside staircase, for example, needs engineering for stability, design thinking for how people use it, and attention to the land around it.
In many low-income neighborhoods, outdoor space isn't designed at all. Homes are built first, and paths, parks and gathering places come later, if they come at all.
Around Lima, close to a million people live in human settlements on rocky, steep hillsides. Families often walk on dirt slopes to reach school, work or a clinic, and there may be few flat, safe areas for children to play. Our article on shantytowns in transition explores how these neighborhoods can grow into more sustainable communities.
Green spaces can do more than look good. In Lima, community gardens have helped turn dusty lots into places for food and gathering. Read how Lima's urban gardens are changing hillside neighborhoods.
Well-designed outdoor spaces support safety, health and a sense of belonging. Lighting, clear paths and places to sit can change how comfortable people feel walking through their own neighborhood, especially at night. Our article on what makes a community safe looks at the physical and social factors that matter most.
For students interested in landscape architecture, community projects are a powerful classroom. On the development service learning trip with Safe Homes Movement, powered by MEDLIFE, high school and college students join projects in Lima, Cusco and Tena, such as staircases, public spaces and greenhouses, depending on what each community has prioritized.
Every project follows a 50/50 model: residents identify the need and work on site, and local architects and engineers lead the design and supervise construction. Students see how slopes, materials and daily routines shape outdoor spaces, and how a single project can change the way a neighborhood moves and gathers. Trips run in summer, winter and spring.
Landscape architecture is about more than plants and parks. It's about how people live, move and connect outdoors. Seeing that on a real hillside, alongside residents and local professionals, makes the field come alive.
Fill out the form to get dates, eligibility details and next steps for the Development Service Learning Trip.
Landscape architecture is the planning and design of outdoor spaces, including parks, plazas, streets, gardens and green infrastructure, with attention to people, ecology and how land and water behave.
Architects focus mainly on buildings and interior spaces, while landscape architects design the outdoor environments around and between them, from parks to neighborhood paths.
Students can take design or environmental science courses, visit parks and public spaces with a critical eye, talk to landscape architects and join supervised community projects that shape outdoor spaces.