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May 5, 2026 Monthly Newsletter

BOARD BULLETIN

Uniform Licensure Standard for Landscape Architecture: An Introduction


The Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB) is the national nonprofit organization that designs and promotes landscape architectural standards through licensure, regulation, and professional competency standards. The primary way they ensure landscape architects are qualified is through the Landscape Architect Registration Examination (L.A.R.E.). The North Carolina Board of Landscape Architects (NCBLA) is a member of CLARB. While CLARB sets the standards to determine a candidate’s competency, NCBLA through law (NCGS § 89A) and administrative code (21 NCAC 26) enforces licensing requirements for landscape architects in the state of North Carolina. The same holds true across the United States, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, and Canada with each individual licensing board regulating licensure according to the requirements of its jurisdiction.

After five years of research, collaborative discussions, analysis, and feedback, CLARB prepared the Uniform Licensure Standard for Landscape Architecture (Uniform Standard). The Uniform Standard establishes common, consistent requirements for education, experience, and examination across jurisdictions with the goal of making licensure more efficient, equitable, and defensible. CLARB recognizes that licensure protects public health, safety and welfare, but the process of becoming licensed shouldn’t create unnecessary barriers. Licensure reform leads to simplified regulations, increased economic opportunity, and the removal of barriers to workforce entry.

Through the Uniform Standard, CLARB is ensuring licensure remains:

  • Defensible – Directly tied to public protection.
  • Consistent – Applied fairly across jurisdictions.
  • Accessible – Attainable by all qualified candidates.

In April of 2022, NCBLA voted to approve CLARB’s adoption of the Uniform Standard. By implementing these uniform standards, North Carolina will join the growing list of states with a unified path to licensure. There are several benefits to adopting the Uniform Standard such as enhanced license mobility, greater equity, and more diverse licensure. We will delve deeper into these in the coming bulletins, so stay tuned!