Tailor your research into the schools you want to apply to. Give a list of schools for better input

Hey Tailor, thanks for help!

Berkeley, GSD, Cooper will be my top choices. 

Also EPF Lausanne  and Mendrisio but i don't  think that European schools focus on architectural theories / notions..

I'm an international applicant for all the schools above, i have  professional B.Arch but professional qualification internationally wouldn't hurt, so i'll be applying both graduate and post graduate programs depending on the schools.  

Those are three completely different programs. Sigh

If I'm not mistaken landscape urbanism is the new trend at the GSD. Look into Charles Waldheim  and Mohsen Mostafavi. They should have two books on called The Landscape Urbanism Reader. The other is called Ecological Urbanism. 

The only person from Berkeley I know is Lisa Iwamoto, but her work is different from the norm at Berkeley. I would imagine anything having to do with environmental design would be helpful. I don't have any recommendations as far as books go. Sorry

Ah Cooper. Maybe not so much of a design method, but if you could get a copy of Raimund Abraham's [un]built. There's also a book called the education of an architect, it's old and might seem outdated,but I think it demonstrates the pedagogy at Cooper Union. 

Thank you Rick+roll ..

.just another question for Rick+roll, how can i know these trends or norms of the schools ?

It's complicated. 

The best advice I can give you is to research faculty members at whatever school you are interested in. Look at every schools website. 

Thank you again!