ASLA Releases Results of Consumer Awareness Survey
Results demonstrate an increase in awareness of landscape architecture.

In June 2006, ASLA conducted a survey to measure the general public’s awareness and understanding of the landscape architecture profession. The results of this survey will help to establish a benchmark against which to measure future public awareness efforts.

The survey asked a sample of 2,000 U.S. adults to describe their level of familiarity with the term “landscape architect,” rate the likelihood that nine various activities would be performed by a landscape architect, and identify the level of education they believe is required of a landscape architect.

Data from this survey and a similar survey conducted in 1998 demonstrate an increase in awareness of landscape architecture among general consumers since that time:

• Eighty-seven percent of respondents in the 2006 survey indicated that they have at least heard of the term “landscape architect,” and 65 percent claimed to be at least somewhat familiar with this term. Twenty-one percent rated themselves as “very familiar” with the term—almost twice as many as in 1998, when only 12 percent rated themselves as “very familiar.”
• In the 2006 survey, older U.S. adults (those aged 45 and older) were more likely to be at least somewhat more familiar with this term than their younger counterparts. Sixty-nine percent of those aged 45 and older indicated that they are at least somewhat familiar with this term, compared to 65 percent of those aged 35–44 and 60 percent of those aged 18–34. In the 1998 survey, 15 percent of those aged 35–54 rated themselves as very familiar with landscape architecture, 12 percent of those 55 and older were very familiar with the term, and 9 percent of those aged 18–34 were very familiar with it.
• Familiarity with this term increases with education. The 2006 survey showed that 78 percent of those with at least a 4-year degree were either somewhat or very familiar with this term, versus 64 percent of those with some college education but no degree and 57 percent of those with no college experience. In the 1998 survey, 21 percent of those with at least a 4-year degree indicated that they were very familiar with the term landscape architecture, 12 percent of those with some college education but no degree did, and 8 percent of those with no college experience indicated that they were very familiar with it.
• In the new survey, a higher portion of those with annual household incomes (HHI) of $75,000 or higher indicated that they were at least somewhat familiar with this term (81 percent, versus 61 percent of those with HHI  of $50,000 to $74,999, 67 percent of those with HHI of $35,000 to $49,999, and 56 percent of those with HHI of less than $35,000). The 1998 survey measured slightly different income brackets. In that survey, 18 percent of those making $50,000 or more were very familiar with the term, while 9 percent of those in the $35,000 to $50,000 range and 11 percent in the $20,000 to $35,000 range were very familiar with the term.
• The top three activities that respondents in the 2006 survey identified as being performed by a landscape architect were improving the landscape of a home (72 percent), designing a public park or recreational facility (65 percent), and making a downtown street more attractive to increase retail customer traffic (54 percent). In the previous survey, the top three activities identified were restoring a historic park (91 percent), planning a town or city (82 percent), and laying out plans for a large office complex (77 percent).