Using the rich environmental, historical, and cultural landscape of New Orleans as a laboratory, the architecture programs engage students directly in an ongoing effort to reconsider and rebuild New Orleans. Architects are uniquely suited to be leaders in a movement toward an urban renaissance of sustainable design and community engagement, and the architecture programs provide students with the knowledge, education, and experience they need to be those leaders. The school aspires to provide the highest quality professional education in architecture, to develop and conserve knowledge, and to promote excellence and innovation in architecture, landscape urbanism, preservation, and urban and environmental design and development.