Landscape Institute

The Landscape Institute (LI) is a British professional body for landscape architects. Founded in 1929 as the Institute of Landscape Architects, it was granted a Royal Charter in 1997. The Institute aims to promote landscape architecture, and to regulate the profession with a code of conduct that members must abide by. As of June 2013, it has 6,000 members, 3,300 of whom are chartered.

It publishes the professional journal Landscape (formerly Landscape Design), and is a member of the International Federation of Landscape Architects.

The growth of landscape architecture has been led by government legislation since the 1940s, such as the New Towns Act (1946) which required landscape masterplans to be prepared, and the European Environmental Impact Assessment Directive EIA Directive (85/337/EEC) (1985) which has led to the increase in environmental impact assessments. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the public sector, particularly local authorities, were the largest employers of landscape architects, with a minority working in private practice. Today the private sector is the larger employer, although the largest single employer of landscape architects in the UK are the charitable Groundwork Trusts.

Thomas Mawson was the first President of the Institute of Landscape Architects (ILA) in 1929, and also one of the first professionals in the UK (along with Patrick Geddes) to use 'landscape architect' as a professional title. Before becoming President of the ILA, Mawson had been a President of the Town Planning Institute. His own career had developed from garden design to urban design.

LI members include landscape designers, conservationists, plant scientists, urban designers, and environmental managers. These disciplines are divided between the three divisions of the Institute: Landscape Design, Landscape Science, and Landscape Management. Members have a duty under the Code of Conduct to create landscapes which are aesthetically pleasing, functional, economic to create and manage, and which embrace cultural and heritage aspects well as considerations associated with the natural environment and conservation.

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