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The Garden and Landscape Designers Association Seminar 2021. Shining a light on sustainable design
DESIGNING IN CHALLENGING TIMES –
A SHIFT IN PERSPECTIVE
W
e recently watched as the Ever Given, a 400metre long container ship, went aground and blocked a main artery of the world, stuck fast and cutting off the lifeblood of world trade in consumer goods. At such moments, we are struck by the interconnectivity of the world and are amazed that a small, momentary error of judgement could have such farreaching consequences. A year ago, the Garden and Landscape Designers Association (GLDA) held its last ‘live’ seminar just on the cusp of the virus, well, ‘going viral’. The reality of our interconnectivity and the fragility of the world is now something we are truly coming to understand. The changes we have experienced could not have been countenanced a year ago. The pandemic has had both positive and negative consequences for the environment. Could we make similar sacrifices for the future of all the species on the planet? This year’s GLDA seminar, Designing in Challenging Times – A Shift in Perspective, examined if our views are changing on how we design and what that change might look like. Many of the participants of this year’s GLDA seminar challenged us, as designers and landscape constructors, to engage with the concepts of designing for sustainability and biodiversity and questioned the role of the consumer in this engagement.
India observed that ‘If you work with an understanding of nature it will not fail you.’ Mumbai is the most densely populated city in one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The environmental challenges are many. Water is a scarce resource as climate change has shortened the monsoon season and has led to a decrease in rainfall. Over time, as in most parts of the world, the population is becoming more urbanised. Central to
DESIGNING BETTER SPACES IN NEGLECTED CITIES The first speaker, Aniket Bhagwat of Landscapeindia in Mumbai,
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HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2021
