BSc Landscape Architecture and Planning (BLP) students study the planning, design and governance of landscapes at various scales. The programme is grounded in learning landscape processes as a basis of planning and design with critical academic reflection on both process and outcomes. The programme takes a critical stance on the practice of humankind's conscious shaping of the environment. This involves recurrent planning, design and management of landscapes to create, maintain, protect and enhance places to be functional, beautiful, sustainable, and appropriate for diverse human, non-human and ecological needs.\n\nThe programme focuses on the rural and urban landscapes of the Netherlands and Europe in a dynamic context of cultural, ecological, technological, economic and political transformation. As the landscapes we use today are the product of the multi-faceted interactions between people and nature, students learn to comprehend this complex relationship by integrating concepts and approaches stemming from the natural and social sciences and the creative arts. The programme embraces design creativity and academic rigor by combining professional knowledge of landscape design and spatial planning with the ability to conduct research in a scholarly, critical and reflective perspective.\n\nThe breadth of the common part of the programme allows students to choose one of two specializations at the end of their first year. After this point, while students gain depth in their specializations, they also take integrated courses in which the different specialisations merge. The programme has two specialisations: (A) Landscape Architecture and (B) Spatial Planning.\n\n*Common part*\n\nThe common part comprises a range of foundational courses in the social and natural sciences, including soil/water science, ecology, geo-information systems, human geography, landscape engineering, land-use economics and politics. The aim of these courses is to provide a foundation in various scientific disciplines to allow students to apply this knowledge during the design/planning process. While students specialize in either landscape architecture or spatial planning from year two onwards, they continue working together on assignments that reflect real-life working practices.