Understanding Why Licensure Is the Way It Is

Before we can understand where licensure is going, we need to understand how it got here. In this opening episode, Andy introduces NCARB’s Pathways to Practice initiative and explores the history of architectural licensure in the United States.

Andy first speaks with Ed Marley, NCARB’s FY26 President, about why NCARB is reimagining licensure and what a more flexible, competency-based future could look like. Then, Amanda Pica, NCARB’s Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Communications, joins the conversation to trace the origins of architectural regulation—from early building failures and public safety concerns to the formation of NCARB and the evolution of education, experience, and examination.

Find out more about Pathways to Practice.