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The
Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences In
collaboration with the Department
of Architecture Is
Offering a New Undergraduate Program in
Rationale and Objectives
Environmentally
conscious approaches and proper management strategies have become vital
in Lebanon and the Middle East to the success of a landscape design
projects. The current landscape needs are no longer limited to
traditional gardens. Instead, the demand is increasingly becoming
complex, involving interior landscapes, roof scapes, urban forests and
recreational areas, and land reclamation projects. With the recent
environmental public awareness, many design requests include habitat
conservation and re-creation. To sustain healthy landscapes in such
diverse and stressful environments predominated by excessive heat, water
limitation, and poor soil and water quality, there is a need to move
from traditional designs and the use of exotic plants. Instead,
non-traditional designs, in which the aesthetic value and the social
impact of the landscape are maintained, require sound knowledge of
native vegetation, natural plant communities, their habitats and their
interaction with edaphic conditions. To insure the viability of these
sites and maintain the desired quality of life within these areas, in
light of expanding roads and urban areas, afforestation, and agriculture
encroachment on remaining natural habitats, there is a basic requirement
for proper landscape management. The
proposed program is designed to meet the changing needs of landscaping.
The objective is to provide an integrated program for bright young
people to enable them to design, implement, and manage landscape
projects in both urban and natural settings.
The
specific objectives of the program are:
1.
To graduate
qualified individuals capable of significant contributions to the
growing landscaping sector of agriculture in this region.
2.
To emphasize
environmentally sound landscaping operations and introduce the
principles of natural landscaping.
3.
To improve
landscaping operations through graduating students trained in the
principles and practices of modern landscaping practices. Desired
skills attained by graduates of the program, based on the above
objectives: 1. To graduate students capable of designing and managing small-scale projects. 2. For graduates to have the expertise and ability to maintain existing landscapes. 3. For graduates to have the ability to closely work with and advice architects in the design of large-scale landscaping projects. 4. To graduate students capable of managing natural landscape settings. 5. For graduates to have the ability to establish and maintain botanical
gardens
in a natural setting.
Program
description
The program is based on three main areas of study:
Landscape
Analysis and Design: Many courses are proposed to prepare students for designing and
implementing landscape designs (Table 5). The students will be initially
exposed to a basic course in design followed by a set of eleven advanced
courses in landscape analysis and design. The objective of this set of
courses is to provide the student with the required knowledge and
technical skills required for a landscape design project. The students
will also learn the use of computer aided designs (CAD) in landscaping
and they will learn how to implement landscape-planting designs and how
to select and construct a site.
Landscape
Management:
Courses were selected to familiarize the student with the management of
the operation and these include financial accounting and business
management courses (Table 5). The management of the landscape is also
covered in this theme and the students learn about all aspects of field
management starting from the proper selection of ornamental plants, to
the management of biotic and abiotic factors.
Landscape
and the Environment: The students learn about various topics related to environmental issues
and these include the impact of pesticides and other environmental
pollutants, the basics of population dynamics, sustainable use of
natural resources, and how these relate in an ecological context (Table
5). The use of the geographic information system (GIS) will also
constitute an important course, which will expose the students to the
management of land resources.
Program
Structure Number of years 4 years (8 semesters) Total number of credits: 128
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