MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
MLA Programme Handbook AY 26—27 Department of Architecture College of Design and Engineering
Administration Office
Mailing Address
Department of Architecture
National University of Singapore
College of Design and Engineering
Department of Architecture
4 Architecture Drive
SDE1 #03-01 Singapore 117566
Programme Director Dr. Victoria Jane Marshall marshall@nus.edu.sg
Administrative Team Lead Alicia Wong aliciawong@nus.edu.sg
CONTENTS
PROGRAMME ADMINISTRATION 2
NUS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 4
ACADEMIC CALENDER 5
PROGRAMME GOAL AND OBJECTIVES 6
ACCREDITATION BY THE SINGAPORE INSTITUTE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 7
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS 8
COURSES & TUTORS FOR ACADEMIC YEAR 2026/2027 9
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS 16
DESIGN THESIS / DISSERTATION 22
SCHOLARSHIPS AND AWARDS 26
STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAMME 27
STUDIO AND OTHER OVERSEAS TRIPS 27
RETENTION OF STUDENT WORK 27
ASSESSMENT AND GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS 28
PLAGIARISM WARNING 30
The Master of Landscape Architecture at the National University of Singapore (MLA at NUS) is a two-year, full-time degree programme offering advanced and cuttingedge training in landscape architecture. It is designed for individuals who have completed a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) or its equivalent in related disciplines, including architecture, urban planning, and urban design.
The programme equips students with the intellectual, technical, and creative capacities to engage critically with a range of landscape challenges and to thus contribute meaningfully to professional practice and research. We aim for our students to become leaders who shape both spaces and viewpoints—advancing what designed landscapes and landscape research could be in Singapore and in the broader context of Southeast Asia and Asia/South Asia (SEA+).
Vision & Identity
The MLA at NUS is defined by its location. With a distinctly Singapore and SEA+ orientation and an urban, urban–rural, and infrastructural emphasis, the programme is grounded in the situated histories, practices, and knowledges of one of the most dynamic regions in the world. Singapore and SEA+ serve as a site of application, offering a dense, and rapidly changing city-state, where cultural diversity and a cosmopolitan outlook inform landscape practice. In addition, the programme approaches the region as a source of theory, method, and practice in its own right. That is, our students are taught to recognise the plurality of cultural, socio-economic, and ecological actions that shape change here.
For an up-to-date academic calender, please refer to the following link from NUS Registrar’s Office: https://nus.edu.sg/registrar/docs/default-source/calendar/ay20262027.pdf
The following dates will be observed as University holidays during the academic year:
• National Day 9 Aug 2026 (Sun)*
• NUS Well-Being Day 9 Oct 2026 (Fri)
• Deepavali 8 Nov 2026 (Sun)*
• Christmas Day 25 Dec 2026 (Fri)
• New Year’s Day 1 Jan 2027 (Fri)
• Chinese New Year To be confirmed**
• Good Friday To be confirmed
• Labour Day 1 May 2027 (Sat)
• Vesak Day To be confrimed
• Hari Raya Puasa To be confrimed
The following Monday will be a public holiday.
Please note that the official end time for classes on Chinese New Year eve (Mon-Fri) is 2pm. There will be no classes on public holidays.
For an up-to-date listing of public holidays in Singapore, please check the Ministry of Manpower website.
Designed Landscapes & Landscape Research
The MLA curriculum is structured around the pairing of designed landscapes and landscape research. This dual emphasis shapes both pedagogical approaches and graduate outcomes, foregrounding design as a situated and relational practice.
The programme prioritizes excellence in designed landscapes, with design understood as both process and product. As a process, landscape design is approached as a creative and exploratory experience. The act of designing a landscape is grounded in sociocultural sensitivities, ecological knowledge, and an engagement with both conventional and emergent technologies and techniques. This includes attention to diverse ways of knowing, making, and inhabiting landscapes. As a product, a designed landscape—expressed through visual and digital media—is expected to inspire, engage, and contribute to meaningful and impactful changes in everyday life, livelihoods, and settlement patterns.
In addition to technical training in learning to design, visualise, and effectively communicate an advanced landscape design project, students are required to develop design research knowledge in Landscape Architecture. NUS is a leading research-intensive university shaping the future and the programme thus supports independent and exploratory modes of inquiry. We encourage our MLA students to devise research questions that are attentive to local contexts, including engagement with power, policy, and planning. Overall, landscape research at MLA at NUS is grounded in the complex and uneven conditions shaping Singapore and SEA+ futures. This integration of design and research positions knowledge as emerging from lived experience and is a distinctive feature of the MLA at NUS.
The Field of Landscape Architecture
Landscape Architecture is a diverse and evolving field. MLA at NUS is supported by a strong faculty whose expertise reflects the breadth of the field. Students learn of its multiple centres and edges, and to the ways these have shifted across time and space. There are opportunities for MLA students to explore a range of practices or to deep dive into a certain approach. Graduates of the programme are thus prepared for a range of professional pathways, including design consultancy, horticulture and landscape management,
real estate development, government agency work, media technology, green finance, research laboratory work, curatorial practice, and design publishing and journalism.
Collaboration and Interdisciplinary Learning
MLA students engage in interdisciplinary learning across NUS, a research-intensive university. The programme is situated within the Department of Architecture, with connections to related disciplines including architecture, urban planning, urban design, and integrated sustainable design. Students participate in joint studios, crossdisciplinary electives, and collaborative learning environments guided by scholars and practitioners. These engagements encourage critical reflection on disciplinary boundaries and support forms of collaboration that are attentive to plurality and situated knowledge. In this way, collaboration is understood not only as a technical necessity, but as an ethical and relational practice.
The Student Experience
MLA at NUS maintains a cohort size that supports close interaction among students and faculty, fostering a collaborative and engaged learning environment. This close-knit setting is complemented by strong links to industry in Singapore, which enrich the student experience. Academic faculty deliver core teaching, while practitioners and experts contribute as part-time tutors and design reviewers, bringing current professional perspectives into the programme. Guest lectures are a regular feature of each semester.
A key strength of the programme, as identified by students, is its emphasis on advanced technology as a tool for design research, policy, and planning. Another strength of the program is our emphasis on embodied modes of learning. Students undertake guided fieldwork to construction sites, completed landscapes, exhibitions, and professional offices. They further extend their learning through directed and self-directed fieldwork across Singapore and SEA+. Together, these experiences enable critical engagement with place and advanced practice in Landscape Architecture.
Since the establishment of the MLA at NUS in 2009, DOA has expanded to include the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture in 2020, marking a significant development in landscape architecture education in Singapore.
NUS Landscape Architecture (BLA and MLA) offers the only tertiarylevel programmes in Singapore that qualify graduates for professional accreditation through the Landscape Architects Accreditation Programme of the Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects.
https://www.la-accreditation.org.sg/
The MLA at NUS is a two-year full-time degree programme providing education and training in landscape architecture. The programme consists of 80 units of core courses and electives spread over two years: Master Preparatory Year (MLA 1) and Master Final Year (MLA 2).
Students admitted to the programme with the equivalent of a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (Honours) degree or a bachelor degree or above in a design-based built environment discipline will enter into the Master Preparatory year (MLA1).
Admitted students with a BLA degree from NUS can apply for Advanced Placement Credits (APC) of up to 40 units, and may advance to Master Final Year (MLA2) with approval from Programme Director.
Candidates are required to pass all courses in the preparatory programme (MLA 1) with a minimum B- average for LA4701 and LA4702 and minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) of 2.50 before they are allowed to proceed to the MLA 2.
Period of Candidature
The programme shall be conducted on a full- time basis lasting two years consisting of four semesters. The maximum period of candidature is limited to six concurrent semesters.
COURSES AND TUTORS
AY 2026/2027
COURSE
LA 4701/ LAD 4001
MLA Studio: Quarter/ Design 7 8 Units
LA 5222
Urban Ecology and Design 4 Units
AR 5301
Introduction to Geographic Information System (GIS) 4 Units
SEMESTER 1
Victoria Marshall (Coordinator) Senior Lecturer marshall@nus.edu.sg
Wai Hon Tham Part-time Lecturer wh_tham@nus.edu.sg
Lehana Guo Part-time Lecturer lehana.g@nus.edu.sg
Rosita Samsudin Lecturer rosita.s@nus.edu.sg
Jinda Qi
Assistant Professor jindaqi@nus.edu.sg
Tang Jing PhD student
Wu Haowei PhD student
Zhang Yihan PhD student
Elective 4 Units
Refer to page 14 for the list of coures offered.
COURSE
LA 4702/ LAD 4010
MLA Studio: City/ Design 8 8 Units
LA 5302/ LAD 4003
Landscape Construction II 4 Units
LA 5303/ LAD 4012
Urban Greening: Technologies and Techniques 4 Units
SEMESTER 2
Yun Hye Hwang Associate Professor yhwang@nus.edu.sg
Yifeng Lin Associate Professor yflin@nus.edu.sg
Chaewon Ahn Assistant Professor c.ahn@nus.edu.sg
Alfred Lee Part-time Lecturer alf.lee@nus.edu.sg
Jiann Bin Koh Part-time Lecturer jiannbin@nus.edu.sg
Ronnie Tan Part-time Lecturer rontanky@gmail.com
COURSE
LA 5701
MLA Studio: Country (Local / Overseas) 8 Units
LA 5742A
Dissertation Prep 4 Units
LA 5500
Proseminar in Landscape Architecture 4 Units
Elective 4 Units
SEMESTER 1
Gaherth Doherty Associate Professor gdoherty@nus.edu.sg
Ervine Lin Senior Lecturer akilse@nus.edu.sg
Evi Syariffudin Part-time Lecturer evi.s@nus.edu.sg
Dorothy Tang Assistant Professor dstang@nus.edu.sg
Helen Smith-Yeo Part-time Lecturer helensy@nus.edu.sg
Refer to page 14 for the list of coures offered.
COURSE
LA 5702
MLA Studio: Region + LA 5742
Dissertation*** 8 Units + 8 Units
LA 5201
Theory of Landscape 4 Units
SEMESTER 2
Dorothy Tang (Coordinator) Assistant Professor dstang@nus.edu.sg
Yun Hye Hwang Associate Professor yhwang@nus.edu.sg
Yifeng Lin Associate Professor yflin@nus.edu.sg
Ervine Lin Senior Lecturer akilse@nus.edu.sg
Gaherth Doherty Associate Professor gdoherty@nus.edu.sg
Janice Tung Assistant Professor j_tung@nus.edu.sg
Jinda Qi Assistant Professor jindaqi@nus.edu.sg
Lu Xiaoxuan Visiting Associate Professor xxland@nus.edu.sg
Evi Syarifuddin Part-time Tutor evi.s@nus.edu.sg
COURSE
LA 5511 / LAD 4006
Digital Landscape Techniques 4 Units
LA 5211 / LAD 4007
Urban Political Ecology 4 Units
AR 5954B
Topics in Landscape Architecture: African Landscape Architectures 4 Units
AR 5954C
Topics in Landscape Architecture: Communities and Spaces in Singapore’s Rural Histories 4 Units
SEMESTER 1
Ervine Lin Senior Lecturer akilse@nus.edu.sg
Victoria Jane Marshall Senior Lecturer marshall@nus.edu.sg
Gaherth Doherty Associate Professor gdoherty@nus.edu.sg
Lai Chee Kien Part-time Lecturer ck.lai@nus.edu.sg
LA 4701 MLA Studio: Quarter
This studio-based course develops higher level skills in landscape design and marks the first of four subsequent master-level core studios in landscape design. Projects of city quarter scale are undertaken to explore issues of context, programme and socio-economic considerations. Projects will cover sites with different functions, e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, educational, health and recreation. Civic spaces like roadsides, highways, plazas, parks and city squares will also be tackled. There is an emphasis on sustainability and tropical design.
LA 5222 Urban Ecology and Design
Urban ecology is the study of ecosystems that include humans living in cities and urbanizing landscapes. It is an emerging, interdisciplinary field that aims to understand how human and ecological processes can coexist in human- dominated systems and help societies with their efforts to become more sustainable. It has deep roots in many disciplines including sociology, geography, urban planning, landscape architecture, engineering, economics, anthropology, climatology, public health and ecology.
AR 5301 Introduction to Geographic Information System (GIS)
Introduction to GIS provides an introduction to geospatial analysis for landscape architecture, urban design, and urban planning with a focus on utilizing empirical data to inform evidence-based decision-making. Through a combination of theoretical concepts, hands-on exercises, and real-world case studies, students will develop the skills necessary to identify use cases for geospatial analysis, analyse spatial data using open-source tools (QGIS), and synthesize the results to make targeted design recommendations.
LA 4702 MLA Studio: City
This studio-based course develops an appreciation for design skills in tropical landscape design as applied on a large city scale and marks the second of four subsequent master-level core studios in landscape design. Interdisciplinary requirements from planning guidelines, architecture design, engineering limitations; as well as understanding existing natural land and urban systems will be introduced into the design process. Project sites will be larger in scale with more complex urban design issues, with projects ranging from peripheral nature conservation sites to mix-use urban centres. There will be an emphasis on deriving innovative design solutions using ecological and sustainability principles.
LA 5302 Landscape Construction II & Professional Practice
This course is consist of two parts. The first part emphasizes landscape engineering techniques focused on designing landscape elements for urban stormwater management (water sensitive urban design, WSUD). These WSUD elements include design of bioswales, bioretention systems and constructed wetland constructions. The course will cover fundamentals in hydrology and hydraulics, application of the knowledge for design of WSUD, including sizing, material specifications and construction and design considerations, and proficiency in production of construction drawings. The second part provide informative knowledge on how design proposals are developed as professional drawings, how they are constructed, and operated in professional landscape architecture practice. It will give an overview of the nature of a professionalism that requires the active integration of related design fields. The course will clarify the responsibilities of landscape architects within the design team, as well as among different stakeholder groups, including clients, users, landscape contractors, managers, and policy makers. It will also cover office and project management, contract procedures, construction administration, ethics, and different types of oral and written communication skills for professional practice.
LA 5303 Urban Greening: Technologies and Techniques
Driven by global urbanization trends, landscape architects are increasingly called upon to sensitively and creatively introduce landscapes in highly urbanized settings. To achieve this, fundamental knowledge of the challenges that the urban environment poses, solutions to these challenges, as well as the use of R&D to develop innovations are important in the skill set of landscape architects. This course introduces students to contemporary and emerging technologies and techniques that have become essential components of urban greening design and practices. It traces the origins of such technologies and techniques as responses to challenges and opportunities in creating a green and ecologically-balanced urban environment, explains their scientific underpinnings, and illustrates with examples of real-life applications. It emphasizes the role of R&D in a continual process to improve the performance of greening in areas of sustainability, ecological health, and liveability of the built environment. Topics covered include metrics used to measure greenery, technologies used to integrate greenery with the grey and blue elements of the built environment, and plants as the basic building blocks of functional landscapes. The course is conducted through lectures, class discussions, and site visits demonstrating real-life applications as well as R&D in progress.
LA 5701 MLA Studio: Country
This studio-based course investigates the sustainable issues surrounding land development of large scales and marks the third of four master-level core studios in landscape design. Methods to balance economic and human development with ecological aspects are highlighted and discussed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The course aims on tropical design issues in the urban context of Singapore and other tropical countries. Thinking globally, acting locally – forms the topical framework of design content.
LA 5742A Dissertation Prep
LA5742A prepares students for LA5742 (Dissertation) which is run in Semester 2 of the second year of MLA. LA5742 is a research-based course in which students undertake a research project on a topic of their choice under the supervision which culminates in a written dissertation report. LA5742A prepares students for this research undertaking by introducing students to research process, research methods and basic statistics. It is run in Semester 1 of the second year and culminates in the submission of a written dissertation proposal that students will execute for LA5742 in Semester 2.
LA 5500 Proseminar
The proseminar introduces MLA students to a range of key issues for urban environments in the anthropocene epoch and their implications for practice and research in landscape architecture. The focus is on developing critical perspectives that come from a deeper understanding of landscape architectural knowledge, methods, and speculation. Classes consist of a series of roundtables by landscape architecture faculty members and/or guest speakers followed by a discussion of assigned readings and a discourse on research questions, specific skills, and applicability in practice.
LA 5702 MLA Studio: Region
This studio based course marks the last of four subsequent master-level core studios in landscape design. The final MLA studio is regarded as opportunity for the graduating students to deliver their personal ‘master piece’. The students will undertake projects in one of the countries of South East Asia, tackling landscape design issues in the fast growing urban agglomerations of this region. The studio integrates ecological, social and economic thinking in the course of generation of designs that shall be realistic and workable.
LA 5742 Dissertation
The MLA Thesis is a culmination of a student’s intellectual and design journey within the MLA programme. It grounds students in a community of practice prior to starting their professional careers. As a design-centric programme, the MLA Thesis promotes design research methods and trains students in critical thinking and independent work. The thesis experience begins with LA5742A Dissertation Prep (4 units) in Semester 1 and continues with LA5702 + LA5742 (8+8 units) in Semester 2. Exceptional students interested in pursuing non-design research topics may apply to complete a research dissertation instead.
LA 5201 Theory of Landscape
This course presents a review of current topics in landscape architecture theory considering urbanisation, infrastructure, and environmental and nature conservation issues through lectures, readings, and discussion. A broad sweep of design issues is provided, and students are challenged to critique current practice and to reflect on the relevance of landscape theory to society.
LA 5511 / LAD 4006 Digital Landscape Techniques
From the invention of the axe to surveying tools like the graphometre, technological advancements have always influenced how we document, understand, design and modify our landscapes. Perhaps the most influential was Geographic Information System (GIS) technology which allowed the convergence of topological, ecological and even social data into the discourse of landscape architecture. However, unlike the two dimentional nature of GIS, landscapes are inherently three dimensional. The course thus explores the various advances that allow landscape architects to operate within a 3D environment with data collected from reality, studied and modified through computational thinking, enriched through information modelling and tested through simulations.
LA 5211 / LAD 4007 Urban Political Ecology
Urban political ecology (UPE) is an analytical approach that rejects as false any dichotomy between nature and society. The purpose of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the origins of urban political ecology, as well as contemporary examples of the approach. Students will explore diverse topics including the cyborg, metabolism, vitalism, and commons/commoning, considering their own and others’ perspectives. Engaging with influential thinkers’ ideas, the course teaches students to form meaningful questions and apply an urban political ecology lens to a found condition through design. The course aims to cultivate a lasting interest in critical thinking about naturesociety, fostering appreciation and change.
AR
5954B Topics in Landscape Architecture:
African Landscape Architectures
This elective examines the plurality of landscape practices across Africa and their role in addressing pressing issues, including climate change and social injustice, now and in the future. Despite the continent’s rich landscape traditions, only nine of the fifty-four African countries have professional landscape architecture associations. The course considers current practice, the lessons offered by African landscape traditions, and the future agency of the discipline over the next 50–200 years. Through weekly case studies from across Africa and collaboration with practitioners and scholars, the seminar investigates what it means to teach and practice landscape architecture where the profession remains nascent.
AR
5954C Topics in Landscape Architecture:
Communities
and Spaces in Singapore’s Rural Histories
The “rural” constitutes a range of submerged, displaced, or constructed spaces in Singapore. While the framing of the island-state’s success has been mainly about architectural and urban development, the “suburban” or “countryside” remain in the consciousness and practices of the state and the people. These occur in seasonal or quotidian ways, and even impact its current policies and prescient issues. Through reading and discussing texts about Singapore’s rural and landscape histories, the complexities and “nature” of its rural pasts may be discerned.
As a design-centric programme, the MLA Thesis sequence is intended to promote design-research methods and train students in critical thinking, independent work, and most importantly to situate their intellectual journey in a community of practice prior to starting their professional careers. More importantly, it provides a space in the curriculum for students to define an area of individual interest and pursue a specialized topic independently under the guidance of experienced instructors. The final output of a design thesis can be quite broad—it can be a recognizable landscape design project that explores new design approaches; it can be a series of process drawings or multimedia explorations that take the instruments of landscape design for creative output; it can be cartographic and mapping exercises with possible speculative futures; it can be a series of technical experiments that aim to critically examine conventional notions of the design process or outcomes. Ultimately, the thesis project should be a culmination of the student’s intellectual and design journey within the MLA programme.
The thesis experience begins with LA5742A Dissertation Prep (4 units) in Semester 1 and continues with LA5702 + LA5742 (8+8 units) in Semester 2. Exceptional students interested in pursuing non-design research topics may apply to complete a research dissertation instead.
GROUNDING INFRASTRUCTURE
Tutor: Dorothy Tang
The landscapes of infrastructure take many forms— ranging from transportation networks, logistical spaces, waste disposal, pipelines, coastal protection or sites of extraction. This thesis theme is concerned with infrastructure and development, and their intersection with politics at multiple scales. Instead of the “green infrastructure” discourses that pervade landscape architecture discourses today, we will explore the engineering rationales of traditional and emerging infrastructure technologies to speculate on the territorial and environmental changes that result from such violent alterations of the ground. However, also drawing on conceptual work by geographers and anthropologists, this thesis group would also be interested in infrastructures of care and maintenance—who are the experts, workers, and users that continually shape and modify these landscapes? How do they intervene and what instruments do they use?
In this thesis group students are welcome to explore mixed methods such as digital humanities or spatial humanities in addition to ethnographic methods.
SOCIAL LANDSCAPES FOR MULTISPECIES CITIES
Tutor: Yun Hye Hwang
This thesis investigates co-designing landscapes for human and wildlife as a framework for reshaping the social conditions necessary for coexistence in urban environments. Unlike plants, wild animals are mobile, territorial, and often provoke strong cultural responses— fear, affection, conflict—that demand distinct design approaches. The thesis argues that fostering humanwildlife coexistence cannot be achieved through ecological design or species management alone, but requires a fundamental restructuring of the social landscape: the shared values, cultural narratives, spatial practices, and collective agreements that shape how urban communities relate to wildlife. Drawing on landscape urbanism, more-than-human geography, and political ecology, the research examines three interconnected dimensions of the social landscape: perception (how people understand and interpret wild
animals), negotiation (how communities deliberate over shared space with wildlife), and practice (how everyday behaviors enable or obstruct coexistence).
The research encourages playful participatory encounters—such as board games, digital and physical experiences, and interactive workshops—as its central proposition for landscape intervention. Rather than treating these as isolated engagement exercises, this approach suggests them as co-design processes that can alter how communities perceive, engage with, and ultimately cohabit alongside wild animals. Through this lens, the findings would explore alternative planning and management approaches that could foster humanwildlife coexistence, counteract environmental harm, and highlight local character and inclusivity in the pursuit of more-than-human cities.
HYBRID LANDSCAPE: DESIGNING BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL REALITIES
Tutor: Yifeng Lin
Landscape has traditionally been understood as a physical environment shaped by nature, built form, materiality, and human experience. Today, digital technologies, artificial intelligence, immersive media, and virtual environments are increasingly reshaping how landscapes are perceived, experienced, and valued. As physical and digital realities become intertwined, landscape extends beyond its material form to include information, collective memory, and networked interactions.
This thesis explores Hybrid Landscape as a framework for investigating the evolving relationship between physical and digital environments. Rather than treating technology as an end in itself, it asks how landscape architecture can integrate ecological systems, cultural identity, public life, and digital innovation to create meaningful experiences of place.
Research may incorporate mapping, digital media, AIassisted analysis, immersive visualization, environmental sensing, and other experimental methods to support design inquiry and speculative proposals. Projects may be framed through four complementary research
lenses: Perception, Interaction, Intelligence, and Identity, examining how hybrid landscapes reshape the relationships between people, place, and technology.
The studio welcomes speculative, site-based, and interdisciplinary investigations that challenge conventional definitions of landscape and imagine new relationships between ecological systems, digital realities, and human experience. The outcome may take the form of spatial design, strategic frameworks, immersive environments, or other experimental modes of representation that critically explore the future of landscape architecture within an increasingly hybrid world.
VIBING LANDSCAPES: CUSTOM DIGITAL TOOLS TO ALTER THE COURSE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
Tutor: Ervine Lin
Landscape architecture has always evolved with its tools—from classical instruments that partitioned terrain geometrically to GIS and contemporary computational methods. The latest wave of artificial intelligence understandably triggered anxiety across design fields, as decades of craft seemed suddenly replicable without their authors. Yet, from a landscape perspective, wholesale replacement of the landscape architect appears unlikely. Early “low-hanging” AI tools that were experimented with— large language models that produce grammatically tidy prose and generative image tools that yield polished but soul-less visuals—has not substantively advanced practice; it has simply added more to learn in an already complicated profession.
If tools are what extend our capabilities as landscape architects, this thesis argues that the real opportunity of AI lies in vibe coding: using AI to rapidly prototype bespoke, human-steered digital tools tailored to the specific needs of landscape enquiry. The theme proposes for the development of AI-augmented tooling and seeks to pave the path for integrating these tools into professional practice. Rather than replacing designers, vibe-coded systems extend our agency, redirecting AI from imagemaking cliches toward meaningful decision support and project-specific intelligence in the hope of truly altering the course of the profession using AI.
DESIGNING IN AN ERA OF INTERMEDIATE PLANETARY FUTURES
Tutor: Janice
Tung
This thesis group investigates landscapes as relational systems operating within an era of accelerating environmental volatility and indeterminate futures. As the Anthropocene is confronted with climatic change leading to increasing volatile cases of flooding, drought, desertification, wildfires, typhoons, habitat loss, and resource scarcity. These challenges expose the limitations of conventional planning and design; instead, calls for new landscape paradigms capable of engaging with complexity, change, and indeterminacy.
In this group, students will critically examine current practices of conservation, ecological restoration, governance, and nature-based solutions and propose relational design strategies mediating the flows of water, energy, nutrients, sediments, species, and people across multiple scales. Rather than prescribing fixed end states, projects are encouraged to design frameworks that cultivate adaptive capacity, ecological resilience, and regenerative relationships: allowing landscapes to evolve, self-organise and navigate rapidly changing environmental and social conditions.
Methodologies may include, but not limited to: systems mapping, ecological analysis, historical and archival research, field observation, participatory scenario planning, and speculative design. Students are encouraged to adopt AI analytical tools and emerging representational technologies as part of their process, revealing hidden relationships and landscape processes that operate across spatial and temporal scales.
DESIGN TECHNOLOGY FOR LANDSCAPE PLANNING AND DESIGN
Tutor: Jinda Qi
Landscape provides essential ecosystem services, including climate regulation, biodiversity support, water management, recreation, and human well-being. While landscape planning and design often rely on expert knowledge and professional judgment, these approaches can be subjective and limited in addressing
complex spatial, environmental, and social conditions. Design technology offers new opportunities to support evidence-based and performance-oriented design by integrating spatial analysis, simulation, optimization, remote sensing, point cloud processing, Gaussian modelling, image recognition, generative design, and artificial intelligence. This research theme explores how emerging design technologies can support, evaluate, and improve landscape planning and design. Possible research directions include:
• Data-driven design: Technologies such as computer vision can be used to recognize park activities, facilities, vegetation, and usage patterns. How can these technologies help interpret spatial and behavioral data to support landscape design?
• 3D landscape modelling: Accurate and efficient 3D modelling is crucial for effective landscape design. How can design technologies be employed to improve landscape modelling and visualization?
• Cooling communities through landscape design: Strategic landscape interventions have widely used to cool communities. To what extent can design technology help develop, evaluate, and optimize these cooling strategies?
You are free to select any topics related to design technology. Resources such as high-performance computing facilities and training in spatial analysis, digital modelling, and data-driven design methods will be provided.
BOTANICAL URBANISM
Tutor: Lu Xiaoxuan
What does it mean to think through plants? Not merely to plant more trees in city streets, or to green rooftops, or to restore degraded wetlands, but to understand plants as active agents in the making and unmaking of urban worlds? Botanical Urbanism begins with this provocation. It holds that botanical processes, plant materials, and their associated knowledge systems are not incidental to the city but foundational to it, woven into its economic histories, political structures, cultural imaginaries, and everyday spatial life.
Botanical Urbanism challenges any single definition of the “urban” and refuses the assumption that green is benign. Formulated as a call to re-center plants and ecological processes as fundamental urban drivers, it advocates a paradigm shift toward culturally engaged ecological design — arguing that the ecological cannot be separated from the cultural and the political. It asks: Whose nature is being designed? Who benefits from urban green space? What cultural meanings are embedded in the plants that cities cultivate, displace, and commodify? Students are encouraged to incorporate AI and advanced technologies alongside landscape research methods including historical-cartographic analysis, multispecies mapping that attends to nonhuman botanical actors as participants in urban formation, and material or sitebased inquiry for reconstructing site histories and identifying potential spaces of intervention.
GIVE AND TAKE: LANDSCAPE OF SHRINKING CITIES
Tutor: Evi Syarifuddin
Cities are inherently dynamic—growing, densifying, contracting, and adapting to volatile geopolitical, economic, social, and climatic pressures. How do the policies and planning frameworks governing urban public space respond to these rhythms? Rather than treating landscape as a purely reactive medium, this cluster asks how a deeper interrogation of the morphological relationship between ecology and urbanization can yield more predictive and informed planning strategies.
Historically, landscape has remained subordinate to built form, relegated to the residual voids left behind by architecture and infrastructure. Even when landscape acts as an ally to urbanism—integrating into hydrological systems, mobility networks, or recreational corridors—it is rarely granted true autonomy as the primary author of urban form. However, as global cities increasingly confront contraction via depopulation, economic restructuring, and counter-urbanization, this hierarchy must be challenged. Could urban decline provide the spatial latitude to position landscape not as a byproduct of urbanism, but as its structural driver? Can specific spatial typologies, such as productive or conservation ecologies, empower this systemic reprioritization?
Rejecting the idea of a universal framework, this thesis cluster acknowledges that the diversity of contemporary urban conditions demands context-specific critique. We invite students to develop localized, rigorous investigations that challenge the ecology-urbanism binary, speculating on future scenarios where yielding space to natural processes becomes a deliberate, transformative act of urban design.
GARDENS BY THE BAY SCHOLARSHIP
Offered to candidates who are passionate about Horticulture and possess a keen interest in pursuing a long-term career in this field. The Gardens will support our Scholars in embarking on their tertiary journey, with challenging and rewarding career paths and job rotations. Scholars can expect a rewarding experience –where passion is inspired and expertise is nurtured.
FOR FURTHER QUERIES OR CLARIFICATIONS: https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/careers-andscholarships/scholarships.html or email at scholarship@gardensbythebay.com.sg.
DESIGNSINGAPORE SCHOLARSHIP
DesignSingapore Scholarship is for individuals with creativity, drive and passion for design. The scholarship will groom designers to become designer leaders who will use strategy and innovation to make things better by design. Our scholarship holders may come from different fields of design, but they share one uncommon trait – they are game changers and aspire to contribute to Singapore and the design sector. We are on the lookout for talented individuals with creative flair, the drive to push boundaries; and a heart to serve Singapore.
FOR FURTHER QUERIES OR CLARIFICATIONS: https://brightsparks.com.sg/profile/dsg/scholarship.php or email at MCI_Dsg_Scholarships@mci.gov.sg.
GARDENS BY THE BAY PRIZE
This cash prize of $1000 is awarded in each academic year to the top graduate with the highest Grade Point Average (GPA) in the MLA programme. Student has to complete the programme with the minimum GPA of 4.5 to be considered.
SINGAPORE INSTITUTE FOR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS PRIZE
SILA Gold Medal is awarded for the top MLA Student in a design studio and/or course.
STUDIO AND OTHER OVERSEAS TRIPS *
RETENTION OF STUDENT WORK
MLA provides semester-long exchange programmes with overseas universities to enrich our students’ learning experience. Thus far, students have gone for exchange programmes at Cornell University, University of Oregon and University of Florida. Student exchange typically takes place in Semester 1 of MLA 2. Opportunities for student exchange with University of Michigan and University of Washington are also available, but subject to further arrangements. New exchange opportunities are being explored with other universities. Students on overseas exchange programme need not pay tuition fees of the receiving university but will have to cater to living, transport and other associated expenses on their own. Note that students eligible for exchange are nominated in the preceding semester based on GPA scores.
Over the two academic years, students will have the opportunity and be expected to travel to regional countries for studio work. Typically, two of the four studios are overseas sites, which require students to spend 7-10 days at the study site to undertake field data collection, and consultation with local communities, practitioners, NGOs or other stakeholders. Overseas studio is a critical part of MLA, designed to expose students to the relevance and meaning of landscapes across diverse socio-cultural, socio-economic and geographical contexts. Occasionally, in some academic years, the number of overseas studio trips deviate from the norm. In addition to studio trips, overseas trips may also be undertaken as part of teaching courses when suitable opportunities are available to expose students to the regional context, challenges, and best practices encountered in these sites. The Department endeavors to secure sponsorship or partial funding to offset student travel costs for overseas trips, as well as makes travel arrangements to keep travel costs as low as practical. However, financial support is not always available and students must be prepared to self-finance overseas trips.
* OVERSEAS STUDIOS ARE SUBJECT TO NUS TRAVEL POLICIES.
All students should note that, pursuant to NUS Statutes, any work prescribed to be done by a candidate in the course of his or her study for the Master of Landscape Architecture may be deemed as the property of the University. Since the Department may be required to retain selected student work for exhibition, archiving and other reasons, students should make their own copies or records of their work for job interviews, competition entries, and other purposes.
Students’ performance will be assessed through various modes of continuous assessment. All work done within the Studio courses will be assessed. The DOA Board of Examiners will govern all assessments.
Grade and Grade Point Equivalent
Assessment can be based on tutorials, laboratories, projects, reports, as well as midterm and final examinations. A student’s final grade in a course will be based on absolute and relative performance. Accordingly, there may not be direct correspondence between particular marks in continuous assessment and the overall course grade.
Grades released to students will be in the form of letter grades: A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, D+, D, F.
The grade and grade point equivalent shall be in accordance with the University regulations as follows:
Grade Point Average (GPA)
Academic progress is tracked by the GPA, which is the weighted average grade point of all courses taken by the student. Therefore, a student’s GPA is the sum of the course grade points multiplied by the number of units for the corresponding course, divided by the total number of units. This is represented as follows:
GPA =
SUM (COURSE GRADE POINT X UNITS ASSIGNED TO COURSE)
SUM (UNITS ASSIGNED TO ALL COURSES)
Courses with no assigned grade points and associated units are excluded from the calculation of GPA.
An online GPA calculator is available at: https://inetapps.nus.edu.sg/capcalc/cap_calculator.aspx
The GPA simulation is based on the entries made by you for individual course grades. As such, NUS will not be held responsible for any misuse, mistakes or wrong decisions made arising from the use of this Online GPA Calculator.
Progression and Graduation Requirements
For continuation requirement to MLA Year 2, students must achieve a minimum B- average for LA 4701 and LA 4702 and minimum GPA of 2.5
For graduation, a student must complete 80 units of 12 essential courses and 2 electives. To graduate, students have to fulfil the additional requirements of:
• Minimum GPA of 3.00 and
• Minimum grade B- for both LA5701 and LA5702.
Academic Warning, Probation and Dismissal
To continue in a Master programme at NUS, a student may not have:
• GPA below 3.00 (but ≥ 2.50) for three consecutive semesters; or
• GPA below 2.50 for two consecutive semesters.
For any semester in which the student’s GPA falls below 3.00 (but ≥ 2.50), that student will be issued an academic warning. If, in the following semester, the student’s GPA again falls below 3.00, s/he will be placed on probation. If the student’s GPA remains below 3.00 for the third consecutive semester, the student will be issued a letter of dismissal by the Registrar and denied re-admission.
For students whose GPA falls below 2.50 for two consecutive semesters, they will be placed on probation for the first semester, followed by dismissal in the second semester.
Such a student may appeal the dismissal if there are extenuating circumstances. The appeal must be submitted to the Education Office within two calendar weeks of the last day of the release of the semester’s examination results. Generally, a student is allowed only one dismissal appeal per candidature. If the appeal is rejected, the student will not be readmitted. If the outcome of the appeal is positive, the student will be given one semester in which to achieve the minimum GPA required for continuation and graduation.
Award of Degree
The minimum GPA for fulfilment of the degree requirements for award of Master of Landscape Architecture is 3.0.
If there are any circumstances, academic or otherwise, which have adversely affected a student’s academic performance during the course of semester or examination, the student can submit the form Application for Special Consideration together with supporting documents, if any, within the stipulated deadline.
If candidates do not achieve a passing grade in a course, they are permitted to retake the course in accordance with the prevailing NUS regulations under the modular system.
All students share the responsibility to uphold the academic standards and reputation of the National University of Singapore. Academic honesty is a prerequisite condition in the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge. Academic dishonesty is any misrepresentation with the intent to deceive or failure to acknowledge the source or falsification of information or inaccuracy of statements or cheating at examinations/tests or inappropriate use of resources. There are many forms of academic dishonesty; plagiarism is one of them. Plagiarism is generally defined as ‘the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own’ (The New Oxford Dictionary of English). The University does not condone plagiarism.
Students should adopt this rule:
You have the obligation to make clear to the assessor which is your own work, and which is the work of others. Otherwise, your assessor is entitled to assume that everything being presented for assessment is being presented as entirely your own work.
This is a minimum standard. In addition, we hope the following guidelines will provide you with some assistance:
1. When using the ideas, phrases, paragraphs and data of others in work presented for assessment, such materials should be appropriately credited and acknowledged, so that it is clear that the materials being presented are that of another person and not the candidate’s own.
2. The amount of detail required when referencing and acknowledging a source will vary according to the type of work and norms of the discipline.
3. Supervised exams will require less detail in referencing and acknowledgment.
4. Papers written other than under exam conditions will require a full citation of the source. While a particular style of citation is not prescribed, the citation should provide enough information for the reader to locate the source.
5. Research materials (including texts, graphics and data) obtained from the internet or other electronic resources should be treated in the same way as research materials obtained from traditional sources. This includes research materials used for design studio.
Any student found to have committed or aided and abetted the offence of plagiarism may be subject to disciplinary actions in accordance with the Section 1 (I) of Statute 12 (Discipline) of the National University of Singapore. In addition, the student may receive no mark/grade for the relevant academic assignment, project, or thesis; and he/ she may fail or be denied a grade for the relevant subject or course.
A student may not knowingly intend to plagiarize, but that should not be used as an excuse for plagiarism.
Students should seek clarifications from their respective tutors, lecturers or supervisors if they are unsure whether or not they are plagiarizing the work of another person. The Centre for Instructional Technology also provides a service to students to help detect and prevent web-based plagiarism.
More information at: http://cit.nus.edu.sg/plagiarism-prevention/
Guidelines for use of AI Tools
In general, it is considered improper to use any available Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool to produce work and pass it off as your own work or idea. These tools include but are not limited to text generators and paraphrasing tools (e.g. ChatGPT, QuillBot AI, etc) or image generating tools (e.g. Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, etc).
However, the university is open to an ethical and proper use of AI when it is allowed. Please check with your individual instructor to understand if the use of an AI tool is acceptable for each specific assignment. In cases where an AI tool is indeed used, a clear acknowledgement of the tool, the prompts/inputs used and how it was used in the particular assignment should be clearly stated.
More information at: https://libguides.nus.edu.sg/new2nus/acadintegrity
Updated July 2026
Should there be deviation between information contained in this handbook and the relevant NUS websites, the information in NUS websites should be treated as the more updated and correct information. Information in this handbook is updated annually.
