New Bachelor's Program in Landscape Architecture
17.09.2025 | from Bern University of Applied Sciences
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17.09.2025, The question of sustainability in times of heatwaves and heavy rainfall, densely populated cities, and new mobility needs shapes life in urban areas. At the same time, there is a growing call for security, biodiversity, social justice, and inclusion. From autumn 2026, Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH) will educate a generation of landscape architects with its new Bachelor of Arts in Landscape Architecture, who think of the city, nature, and society holistically and creatively design sustainable urban development.
Understanding systems, shaping landscapes, moving society
This guiding principle led to the development of the new program, which was approved by the BFH University Council in mid-September.
People need functioning living spaces. The city of tomorrow combines climate adaptation and quality of life with function and design. This is where landscape architecture unfolds its full potential: it perceives the landscape not only as space but as a complex system. To meet the multifaceted demands of such systems, the program combines BFH's expertise from the fields of design, ecology, economics, technology, and social sciences. This lived interdisciplinarity opens up new ways of thinking and acting and creates added value that extends far beyond the boundaries of individual disciplines. In the practice-oriented learning format of the real laboratory, students address complex issues of urbanized spaces. In close collaboration with municipalities, cities, planning offices, and citizens, they analyze existing situations and develop design solutions with social relevance.
"Landscape architecture has long grown beyond mere 'greening'. Today, it shapes urban development as a leading force and assumes responsibility for a future that integrates nature, society, and space in its entirety," says the program's project leader, Professor Daniel Baur.
Flexible study options – targeted impact
Whether full-time or part-time: The new program is aimed at creative, responsible individuals who not only design spaces but also want to contribute to societal change. Direct admission is granted to individuals with a completed vocational training in a related field such as gardener EFZ and a Swiss federal vocational diploma. Those with the necessary academic qualifications but lacking work experience can complement this with a pre-study internship in the construction industry.
Curious?
Learn more about the content, structure, and perspectives of the Bachelor’s program in Landscape Architecture at BFH: Visit bfh.ch/ba-landschaftsarchitektur.
Landscape architecture as the driving force of urban systems
BFH inspires future landscape architects to actively shape the future. Representatives from politics, the real estate industry, and the younger generation discuss how urban green spaces can be developed strategically and interdisciplinarily – and why now is the right time to take bold and groundbreaking steps.
October 14, 2025, from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM at the Wood 2025 fair in Basel.
The event is open to the public, admission is free.
Contact
Daniel Baur
Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
Project Leader in the Development of the Bachelor of Arts in Landscape Architecture Program
T +41 34 426 41 73
daniel.baur@bfh.ch
Beatrice Saurer
Head of Communication
T +41 32 321 62 33
beatrice.saurer@bfh.ch
Bern University of Applied Sciences
Architecture, Wood and Construction
Solothurnstrasse 102, 2504 Biel
mediendienst.ahb@bfh.ch
bfh.ch/ahb
Conclusion of this article: « New Bachelor's Program in Landscape Architecture »
Bern University of Applied Sciences
Highly individualized teaching and strong research: As the first transdisciplinary art university in Switzerland, Bern University of the Arts HKB offers a diverse range of study programs in the fields of music, design and art, conservation and restoration, theatre, and literature.
Research at Bern University of the Arts HKB combines scientific and artistic approaches, is practice-oriented, and follows cultural, technological, and socially relevant questions. Transdisciplinary teams from the arts as well as humanities, social, and natural sciences conduct research in four institutes.
HKB enables its students to pursue education across all three academic levels, leading up to a doctoral program (in collaboration with the University of Bern), and values teaching that considers changes in the professional world. Excellent infrastructure, orientation towards the latest artistic and scientific developments, innovative teaching forms, a manageable size with a familial atmosphere, and the location in the cultural cities of Bern and Biel contribute to the uniqueness of Bern University of the Arts.
Source: Bern University of Applied Sciences, Press release
Original article published on: Neuer Bachelor-Studiengang in Landschaftsarchitektur