Landscape architecture in Germany
Landscape architecture in its current form is a rela-
tively young discipline in Germany, despite the fact
that when one looks at past garden art and garden
architecture, its origins have very traditional roots.
The planning and designs of landscape gardeners
such as Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell (1750–1823) or
Peter Joseph Lenné (1789–1866) still influence the
appearance and the open space systems of impor-
tant German cities today.
If we confine our observations to contemporary
landscape architecture, the period after the Second
World War represents an important phase in its
development. Even if the post-war period was char-
acterised mainly by very conservative attitudes and
landscape architects were mostly concerned with
private gardens, some progressive and socialist-
based ideas did become widely accepted. The pro-
tagonists of these positions were landscape archi-
tects such as Herrmann Mattern, Ulrich Wolf and
Günther Grzimek, the designer of Munich’s Olympic
Park, which opened in 1972. They demanded parks
and open spaces with varied activities and uses for
all social classes.^1
From that time onwards, an important medium
of German landscape architecture has been the
national and international garden exhibitions (BUGA
and IGA). Ever since their premiere in Hanover in
1951, these exhibitions have taken place every two
years, each one in a different German city. Over
time, their importance has evolved into something
much more than a horticultural fair. They ‘create
social green spaces and make an essential contribu-
tion to a modern ecological urban development’.^2Beginning in the 1940s, the study of landscape archi-
tecture has also been established as a postgraduate
or an engineering programme at universities and
polytechnic colleges. Most such study programmes
belong to the so-called ‘green’ faculties and are
closely combined with subjects such as horticulture
or agriculture and not as a specialisation of architec-
ture. Accordingly, the courses are often character-
ised by an ecological orientation. Under somewhat
differing names, studies in landscape architecture
or related courses are currently offered at a total of
16 universities in Germany: 5 research universities
and 11 universities of applied sciences, the German
Fachhochschulen. Related study programmes ori-
entated towards landscape construction and man-
agement are relatively new and are offered at a
small number of faculties. In this particular field,
the University of Weihenstephan and the University
of Osnabrück currently offer the only complete
engineering degree in Landscape Construction and
Management, and each school has developed its
own particular emphasis and profile.Germany
Ingrid Schegk and Sabrina Wilk