IFLA Newsletter October 2012

International Federation of Landscape Architects Fédération Internationale des Architectes Paysagistes

NEWSLETTER No. 101 October 2 0 1 2

mail ifla@iflaonline.org web site www.iflaonline.org cultural landscape committee www.iflaclc.org

IFLA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE President

IFLA

WORKING FOR

L A N D S C A PE Topic

Author(s)

Page

From The President

Desiree Martínez

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World Urban Forum 6

Martha Fajardo

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The Latin American Landscape Initiative

Martha Fajardo

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Florence Declaration On Landscape

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IFLA_President @iflaonline.org

First IFLA Photo and Video Contest

Paula Villagra

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Secretary General Ilya MOCHALOV mochalov@alaros.ru

The Development of Creative Co-operation

Tony Williams

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Vice-President European Region

IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award 2013

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50th IMCL Conference Reshaping Suburbia, Call for Papers and Invitation to Exhibit

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Interview with Prof. Miháli Möcsényi by Desiree Martinez

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Book Review, Water Atlas by Pietro Laureano

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Desiree Martinez

Nigel THORNE

n.j.t@btinternet.com Vice-President Asia/Pacific Region

Dato Ismail bin Ngah dibn57@gmail.com

Vice-President Americas Region

Carlos JANKILEVICH carlos@tropicaintl.com

Editor IFLA News Shirah CAHILL shirahcahill@yahoo.com

Potential contributors please contact shirahcahill@yahoo.com Deadline for articles (500-1000 words plus illustrations) last day of the preceding month

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 FROM THE PRESIDENT

Photo by Martha Fajardo

September and October have been very busy months! First, was the very successful 49th World Congress in Cape Town. The southern sun smiled on all landscape architects along with the spectacular South African landscape which was the perfect backdrop for the Congress. A deep thank you to all of our ILASA colleagues and chair Bruce Eitzen, who contributed to this perfect event! One of the highlights was of course, having the honor to bestow Prof. Miháli Möcsényi, an iconic character within IFLA and the Hungarian Landscape Architecture evolution with the IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award.

I was only home for 4 days in September! After our National Holiday, I travelled back to Europe to participate in the 40th anniversary celebration of UNESCO´s World Heritage Convention and to present the International Traditional Knowledge Institute (ITKI). In addition to fabulous lectures and the launch of the remarkable ITKI, which will honor ancient and traditional landscape management techniques, one of the most incredible outcomes of the symposium was the Florence Declaration, which is a call upon all intergovernmental agencies, secretariats supporting UN programs and international conventions and NGOs to work towards protecting landscape. IFLA´s contribution together with Kathryn Moore, chair of IFLA´s ILC Committee, Martha Fajardo, ex-president and chair of the LALI Initiative and Mónica Luengo, chair of the ICOMOS-IFLA Cultural Landscape

Scientific committee, was crucial to the outstanding results!

In Barcelona I had the opportunity and honor to be part of the International Jury for the Landscape Biennale, together with Carme Ribas, Katrhyn Gustavson and Karin Helms, all incredible professionals with profound knowledge of our profession´s values. The results of our jury’s deliberation were so successful that our winner coincided with the public´s favorite! I should mention that in this particular circumstance the public was also composed of landscape architects, architects and students.

Due to these events I could not attend the ASLA´s meeting in Phoenix, which was a bit sad, but Paulo Pellegrino, IFLA-Americas’ secretary participated in the ASLA´s board of trustees meeting on behalf of IFLA. The Americas Regional Conference in Medellín was also a huge success. We launched the Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) and all the hard work of Martha Fajardo and our Latin American Colleagues culminated in an incredible landscape celebration!

It has been a time full of landscape for me and I feel truly excited and satisfied! Wonderful things are to come for our profession and for landscape! I thank you all for the opportunity to be part of it!

With a big hug, Desiree Martinez

WORLD URBAN FORUM 6 The Habitat Professionals Forum Roundtable Theme: “The Urban Future: Delivering the Vision of Human Settlement Professionals for a Sustainable Urban Future”

Martha Fajardo Organized and facilitated by the UN-Habitat, the WUF6 (World Urban Forum) took place in Naples

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 from the 1st to the 7th of September, 2012. The event brought together governmental and municipal authorities, representatives from civil society, professionals, academics and representatives from the private sector over the theme, The Urban Future.

Four major topics were chosen for the discussions; Urban Planning: institutions and regulations; Productive Cities: competitive/innovative cities and urban mobility, energy & environment; Improving the quality of life; Equity and Prosperity: distribution of wealth and opportunities.

The Habitat Professionals Forum Roundtable (HPF) took Place on the 5th of September, 2012 in Naples, at the Palacongressi d’ Oltremare. As a partner in the HPF; IFLA was represented by immediate Past President Martha Fajardo. It was an excellent opportunity to present the outcomes of the International Landscape Convention and the bottom-up approach of the Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) which is written in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Habitat III and the Rio Habitat Professionals Charter principles: - social, economic and environmental harmony; - inclusivity; heritage; - culture and sense of place; - climate change and resilience.

Given that IFLA attended and had participated both at the WUF6 and the Rio+20, we felt that urban issues were given much prominence at these meetings and cities were recognized as positive drivers of development. We noted however, that it was missing from the UN Habitat; RURAL Future, which is a matter of concern for IFLA, illustrating the need for a more holistic approach from the Habitat professionals.

Partners were urged to position themselves for effective participation in the next World Urban Forum7 which will be held in Medellin, Colombia in 2014, in order to ensure a unified voice at Habitat III.

During my presentation, IFLA invited everyone to use the complex term landscape as a tool for a holistic approach to fulfill the commitments of the HPF charter. Landscape is the place where everything takes place; where we live, work, relax and draw out our resources. It is the backdrop of our history and the basis of social cohesion, health and a good living.

The International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) Statement The International Landscape Convention: Towards a Global Urban Agenda for Habitat III. Cooperation and an interdisciplinary approach to planning is a topic that we have fostered and tried to advance for a long time. IFLA deeply welcomes the initiative that has been taken up by the HPF. As part of the HPF group and representing the profession of Landscape Architecture, we would like to share some thoughts on landscape giving emphasis to the urban landscape.

We invite you all to reflect on landscape, its meaning to our cultural identity, its importance to our economic activities and its essential value to making sustainability suitable. As habitat professionals, we need to understand the holistic term landscape as: - The environment where social, economic and environmental harmony take place - The place we need to adapt, revaluating its resources and enhancing quality of life to achieve social inclusivity - The characteristic places that contain heritage and culture values - The sites where the disasters of climate change have devastated us WHY A CONVENTION? As expressed in the paper by the IFLA ILC International Landscape Convention task force chair Kathryn Moore: “At IFLA we believe an international convention is necessary because it will encourage a much more strategic approach to the landscape. This is very

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 important in addressing the major global challenges created by industrialization, urbanization, energy, demographic shifts, climate change, the depletion of natural resources, deforestation, biodiversity, heritage, issues relating to the quality of life and other aspects of land use development. It will help communities deal with the many threats to their everyday landscape.

A convention will influence government bodies.

Providing excellent leadership and expertise and leveraging the support of other agencies, it will help those seeking to champion the landscape to articulate arguments convincingly and persuasively. It will challenge preconceptions and reward good practice, empower and provide support for communities and organizations across the world concerned with the health and sustainability of their landscapes.

Establishing the landscape as the tool for planning and sustainable development will help to unlock a greater value for people and the economy, now and in the future.

Our proposal builds on a new way of thinking about landscape. Focusing on the relationship between people and their physical environment, it considers the landscape as a cultural and natural concept, a physical and abstract entity, having economic and social value. Integrating at every point nature and culture, dealing with issues of expertise and public aspirations, with conservation and design, it deals with protection of the past as well as the shaping of the future.

So this is not simply about landscape as biodiversity or ecology. It’s not only concerned with the countryside or matters of heritage. It addresses the entire package, including the urban and suburban, the cities and the towns.

We recognize that different cultures have different ideas about the landscape and these ideas can be so varied that there is little or no point in trying to find a common definition. Comprehensive, flexible and overarching, this allows national, regional and local interpretation and application.

Rather than simply producing standards and rules, it is a framework agreement that contains principles and guidelines. By its nature it encourages a way of working across disciplines and established institutional, geographical and disciplinary boundaries, and recognizes the vital connections between governance, culture, health and economics.

It reflects a changing discourse about the landscape.

This is not about discovering a new language as such, but fusing, overlaying and cutting across concepts that have up until now, been compartmentalized and segregated.

Recognizing landscape as a resource that is environmental, economic and social makes for a more dynamic, as well as democratic concept, not holding it up to be an elitist, scientific, or intellectual concern, only there for those who can afford it. It deals with both remarkable and degraded landscapes, the special and the everyday, all territories from rural to urban, from the most treasured to the most nondescript and unloved and the places and spaces in desperate need of regeneration”.

The urgent need for an international convention will capitalize on the intense interest in this proposal from across the world, and will give leadership and complement and reinforce the “bottom up approach” which has led to existing and proposed landscape charters in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, Uruguay and Peru, through the Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) which was signed on October 19 in Medellin Colombia (a brief on LALI is also in this issue), as well as national charters in Australia and New Zealand, regional charters in The Mediterranean, West, East and South Africa and the European Landscape Convention ELC (signed by 40 nation states).

Representing IFLA at the WUF HPF 6: Immediate Past President Martha Fajardo, ILC cochair and LALI chair.

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 The Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) La Iniciativa Latinoamericana del Paisaje Martha Fajardo LALI Chair, IFLA Former President LALI is a regional initiative, but its meaning goes much beyond the limits of the Latin America region: it signals the mobilization of civil society for the safeguarding of important collective values, the ones that are represented by the conservation of beauty, of biodiversity, of traditional knowledge, of heritage in all its forms.

UNESCO praises the work that you have done during this meeting, and wholeheartedly supports the LALI initiative as a basis for an enhanced regional and international action that will lead to the development of more effective and universal policies, in collaboration with all the main United Nations Agencies, the international NGOs and national and local Governments of all the regions of the world.

Thanks! We look forward to an even greater global engagement for the preservation of Landscapes!

Francesco Bandarin UNESCO ADG Culture

THE LALI JOURNEY 2012 THE INSPIRATION It has been a long journey since 2005 when I was invited to attend the third meeting of the workshops for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention in Ireland. The Cork meeting was an inspiration. All of the grand statements made afterwards, during the course of my career are linked to that concrete date; a dream that Landscape would become part of our policies for its conservation, protection and management through a dynamic and contemporary approach.

The adoption of the European Landscape Convention has placed the role of landscape as an es-

sential component of collective welfare and has highlighted the need for landscape management at all scales; from densely populated areas, urban areas, urban open space, remnant and suburban space, scenes of daily life as well as places with high heritage value, tangible and intangible, scenery and natural significance.

Since 2006 the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) has been promoting the idea of a Global Landscape Charter, first at the IFLA World Council in Minneapolis. Then in 2010 at the IFLA World Council in Suzhou, China members unanimously agreed to call upon UNESCO’s Director General to review the feasibility of a new standard setting instrument, a “world landscape convention”. A task force was structured chaired

by Kathryn Moore LI; Patricia O’Donnell ASLA; Xiaoming Lui CHSLA; and Martha Fajardo SAP. Establishing the need for an international landscape convention has been a collaborative effort.

An expert seminar organized by and held at UNESCO in October 2010, was attended by 23 experts including lawyers, landscape architects, architects, geographers, planners, engineers, biologists, anthropologists, ecologists and developers from various regions (Africa, Europe, North America, Latin America and Arab States), as well as representatives of UN Agencies, international intergovernmental bodies, centers/associations, together with national and non-governmental organizations,

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 universities and other organizations including The Council of Europe. Although not adopted by the UNESCO board in May 2011, the level of support was such that we strongly believe that its acceptance is a matter of time.

The present proposal has also been stimulated by the discussion on an International Landscape Convention (ILC) that has been advanced in gatherings convened by UNESCO and IFLA; the Rio+20 People’s Summit; the World Urban Forum WUF6 HPF in Naples; the UNESCO International Meeting held in Florence on September 19-21, 2012 and the FLORENCE DECLARATION on LANDSCAPE. Latin America, a region known for its geographical, natural and cultural diversity is a scenically rich territory. This wealth, coupled with the exuberance of its biodiversity offers its inhabitants a vigorous environment for enjoyment. This is surely one of the reasons why until recently, the region had not been concerned for the care of the landscape. The economic growth that has accelerated during the second half of the last century, together with other peculiarities of regional activity, has had a considerably negative impact on our landscapes. Latin America currently faces serious environmental problems whose expression and perception makes them landscape problems.

Today, Latin American society is fully aware that technological and demographic pressures are a threat to numerous resources both natural and cultural; among them is the landscape, environmental quality, historic and cultural value as well as economic resources and land value. Therefore we felt that we needed to move forward to stimulate regional and local initiatives through a resolution establishing the landscape as a holistic tool for the planning, management and creation of sustainable development, protecting the past and shaping the future, recognizing the vital connections between government, people, culture, heritage, health and economy.

The journey has begun. The Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela

Societies of Landscape Architects as active IFLA Americas members echo this global strategy. The proposal and promotion initiated with each Association’s Landscape Charter. It was understood that working together as a region would reap more benefits, and this is how The Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) was conceived. The initiative is a very important contribution to the development of an international landscape convention.

After numerous drafts and after the input of several people from the Latin-American region, LALI came to a consensus in August 2012. LALI was later formally launched in ceremony at the Medellin IFLA / SAP Conference on October 19, 2012.

THE CREATION The Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) is a declaration of fundamental ethical principles to promote the recognition, valuation, protection, management and sustainable planning of Latin American landscapes by means of the adoption of agreements (laws-accords-decrees-regulations) that recognize local, regional and national diversity and values, both tangible and intangible, of landscape, as well as the principles and processes necessary to safeguard it.

The LALI Initiative is a product of a year-long, regional, cross cultural dialogue on common goals and shared values. The LALI Initiative began as part of the UNESCO towards an International Landscape Convention ILC initiative but it was carried forward and completed by civil society. The drafting of LALI involved an inclusive and participatory process of the 15 countries. This process is the primary source of its legitimacy as a guiding ethical framework. The validity of the document has been further enhanced by its endorsement by over 400 participants, including local governments and international organizations. Ratification is open to anyone and any institution.

Composed in Colombia on August 30th, 2012, the LALI declaration was set up in Spanish, English, and Portuguese. The three equally authentic texts are in a single draft that will be held in the Latin American Landscape Observatory.

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 THE LALI MEDELLIN FORUM: WORKING TOGETHER FOR A CHANGE The bottom-up approach was then endorsed at the LALI Forum celebrated on October 17th, 2012 at the Botanical Garden in Medellin Colombia. The key elements of the Initiative are: i. A bottom-up process promoting the Initiative from the local, to regional, to International Agencies in order to secure support, collaboration and international acceptance. ii. A declaration of fundamental ethical principles to promote the recognition, evaluation, protection, planning and management of the landscape. iii. The adoption of guidelines, conventions (laws and agreements) to recognize the diversity and value of the Latin American Landscapes.

The proposal seeks to convene state entities, unions, institutions and civil society to: - Establish specific policies related to landscape - Integrate landscape, with its due importance, into public sector policies (infrastructure and mobility, production, utilization of resources, renewable energy, health, tourism, planning and housing) - Foster policies and participate in international programs related to landscape, favoring regional and plurinational cooperation

- Encourage work in support of landscape through institutional, multidisciplinary and trans-disciplinary frameworks - Promote landscape conservation, restoration and management plans and programs - Orchestrate landscape policy through regulation concerning land - Position in the value of landscape one of the pillars of cultural policy, re-urban, re-qualification and environmental recovery - Incorporate citizen participation in the activities of landscape management - Promote knowledge and the valuation of landscape to diverse groups/communities - Integrate the protection of landscape goods in urban and regional planning - Recognize the fundamental role of landscape and landscape architecture to provide holistic answers to challenges to quality of life.

LALI proposes to unite bi-national and multi-national politics on the topics of conservation, protection, management and recovery of landscape spaces located in transboundary zones.

The following people were the Members of the Regional Committee and contributed to the process of drafting the document: Coordinator IFLA Expresident Martha Cecilia FAJARDO P; ARGENTINA CAAP, Virginia Lucrecia LABORANTI; BOLIVIA SAPEMA María Teresa ESPINOZA; BRASIL ABAP Saide KAHTOUNI; CHILE ICHAP Fulvio ROSSETTI; COLOMBIA SAP Gloria APONTE GARCIA; COSTA RICA ASOPAICO Carlos JANKILEVICH; ECUADOR SAPE Alexandra MONCAYO; MEXICO SAPM Desiree MARTINEZ ; PERU APAP Carmen BALARIN DE IBERICO; PUERTO RICO CAAPPR Marisabel RODRÍGUEZ; URUGUAY AUDADP Margarita MONTAÑEZ; VENEZUELA SVAP Marianella GENATIOS Coordination of Linkages (Agents of diffusion and links): CANADA CSLA Raquel PENALOSA; IFLA USA -ICOMOS: Patricia M. O’DONNELL; MEXICO ICOMOS Saúl ALCÁNTARA ONOFRE; COLOMBIA, urbam EAFIT Alejandro ECHEVERRI; COLOMBIA, MEDELLIN MAYOR, Ana Milena JOYA C; COLOMBIA, UPB: Felipe BERNAL, Jorge PEREZ

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 5) A right that all human beings should be able to enjoy; the enjoyment of which generates commitments and responsibility.

In this framework, the Latin American signatories commit to develop and to put into practice the proposals subject to the initiative. We declare our responsibility in leading the planning, design and the administration of the landscape under principles, objectives, fields of action and challenges.

A MAGIC SIGN CEREMONY This included: 23 countries, nearly 400 participants, 96 students, 52 lecturers and speakers and 25 participants of the local government. The parallel activities that made the conference in Medellin the epicenter of landscape include: the Exco board meeting; IFLA Americas LALI forum; LALI FOREST, the legacy of an environmental friendly and paperless conference to be replicated by American colleagues; the UPB-EDAP Educators in Landscape Architecture, the UPB-ELEPA Latin American landscape students; 30 years of SAP, the technical visits to the great city transformed, the technical tour promoted by Metro de Medellin, the IFLA/SAP executive board and delegates; and the closing magical ceremony with the signing of LALI. The signatories of LALI, in shared agreement, recognize that landscape is: 1) An exceptional, fragile and transitory resource.

2) The crucible of the intangible of Latin American communities.

3) A cultural, social and environmental asset that represents integration and communication with the past of our towns and defines its evolution.

4) A reference value and control of transformation by its association with the ancestral, collective memory and the cultural, natural and symbolic meaning that it contains.

THE ASPIRATION The journey has just begun. LALI is still a baby at the threshold where youth meets adulthood. LALI is the beginning of a joyous occasion. It is a time to collect wisdom. The journey may be difficult, but it is surely exciting.

We commit ourselves to promote actions on both national and regional scales.

NATIONAL SCALE: 1. To integrate the concept and the objectives of landscape in policies directed to the protection, management, and distribution of the land, particularly in those cases that could have direct or indirect repercussions on the landscape.

2. To legally recognize the landscape as the expression of the diversity of shared heritage, natural/cultural/mixed and the foundation of identity.

3. To propel the active participation of authorities, national leaders and of actors interested in the formulation and application of landscape policies.

4. To promote an awareness that may create a greater conscience among civil society, private organizations and public authorities on the value of landscapes, their importance, their potential for development and transformation both harmonious and rhythmic taking into account its capacity and fragility.

5. To incentivize research organized by public consultants, aimed at the identification, qualification and categorization of landscapes, by means of the competition of interested specialists, with the goal of getting to know landscapes better and interchanging experiences and methodologies.

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012

REGIONAL SCALE: 1. To support the international inclusion of the landscape dimension in policies and programs.

2. To lend technical and scientific assistance and the exchange of experiences and products of investigation on landscape themes.

3. To foster access to information on landscape matters.

4. To cause the spread of information by specialized professionals to citizens in general and for the formation of teachers in particular.

5. To exchange information on the tendencies of LALI and to try to reinforce the efficacy of its measures.

6. To compile and to disclose examples of successful efforts of best landscape practices.

7. To stimulate best practices with public recognition and to create the Premio del Paisaje Latinoamericano/Latin American Landscape Award.

8. To propose specific provisions for the transboundary landscapes, committing to foster cooperation at the national and regional levels and to

elaborate and put into practice programs of landscape valuation.

9. To elaborate and manage a system of landscape identification and observation (Latin American Landscape Observatory).

10. To create the Latin American Landscape Council with the aim of giving monitoring capability to LALI, constituted by the signatory members and others with its own funding and that of international cooperation.

FEEDBACK RECEIVED AFTER THE EVENT: Dear Madam, Dear Sir, Queridos Amigos, I would like to thank you warmly for your hospitality on the occasion of the Conference IFLA/SAP 2012 on “Borders: landscape on the alert�, held in Medellin on 18-19 October 2012, and to congratulate you and your Collaborators for the great success of the event.

The Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) is a fundamental document to value the magnificent

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 landscapes of South-America and to take care of the everyday landscapes of the population. It will be a great honor for us to contribute to the promotion of the Initiative and to pursue our co-operation.

I appreciated very much the presentations and discussions with the participants and the important projects achieved in Medellin. Thank you for the very interesting book and documentation on landscape architecture in the Americas.

Yours sincerely, Un fuerte abrazo, Maguelonne DÉJEANT-PONS Head of the Cultural Heritage, Landscape and Spatial Planning Division Chef de la Division du patrimoine culturel, du paysage et de l’aménagement du territoire Council of Europe / Conseil de l’Europe ……………………………………………..

“The meeting in Medellin was everything we expected and even more. The signing and official launch of the Latin American Landscape Initiative (LALI) was an emotional, momentous and memorable event that takes us beyond our borders. The keynote presentations and parallel sessions enlightened our thinking and left us with a renewed motivation for our work. The Regional Council with a large attendance made clear the current progress of our region in this new stage, full of active committees and a major regional project underway.

Our gratitude to our Colombian colleagues for the superb organization of this unforgettable event We return home satisfied and full of enthusiasm to move forward into new and broader horizons” Carlos Jankilevich IFLA Americas Vice President ……………………………………………………

Dear Martha, Muchas gracias from Europe to you and to all the team of the IFLA congress!

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It was a great pleasure for me to discover the creativity and the achievement of the city of Medellin,

to explore the diverse and generous nature of Colombia and above all to share ideas and emotions with all participants.

It has been very inspiring to see how you in Latin America fight to overcome segregating borders of different disciplines and interests and to see that above distance and politics, landscape architects from all around the world share the same care and ambition for a harmonious and dynamic relationship between man and nature!

Wishing you a lot of success in all the coming challenges, Frédéric Rossano Landscape Architect dplg ETH Zurich Institute of Landscape Architecture Chair of Christophe Girot

FLORENCE DECLARATION ON LANDSCAPE, 2012

Final Declaration of the UNESCO International Meeting on “The International Protection of Landscapes” held in Florence on September 19-21, 2012 on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of the World Heritage Convention The participants of the meeting included over 30 experts from various countries, the representatives of UN Agencies (UNESCO, FAO, UNCCD, UNEP), international intergovernmental bodies, centers and associations (ICCROM, EUI, UNU, ICOMOS, IFLA, ICQHS, ITKI, IPSI, EHP), together with national and non-governmental organizations, universities and local administrators:

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 Thanking the organizers for having convened a meeting on the International Protection of Landscapes and, in particular, His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales for his most thought-provoking video message; Having examined and discussed the challenges of today; Expressing their deep concern for the degradation of landscapes worldwide due to industrialization, rapid urbanization, intensification of agricultural processes and other threats and risks caused by global change; Acknowledging landscape as the expression of the relationship between people and environment, which, over time, has created and still creates harmonic life conditions and wealth; Recognizing the importance of the landscape as an educational tool to promote knowledge and raise awareness of cultural diversity, identity and responsibility; Considering that the landscape is a common good and the right to the landscape is a human necessity; Being aware that it is impossible to protect landscapes ignoring the local and traditional knowledge that have generated them and whose loss destroys a heritage of know-how usable for appropriate and innovative solutions; Acknowledging that international resolutions recognize intrinsic aspects of the landscape, such as adaptive management and a holistic approach between social, economic and aesthetic elements for possible answers to the global challenges; Taking into account the request of local communities and administrative representatives to preserve the landscape for better living conditions based on global sharing opportunities and common goals; Recalling the Rio+20 outcome document “The future we want” and the upcoming revision of the Millennium Developments Goals; Taking note of numerous initiatives at the international, national and local levels, addressing landscape management in the context of sustainable development within the United Nations system; Affirming the importance of safeguarding and improving landscapes for:

• the quality of daily life, cultural identity and enhancing wellbeing •recognizing the value of traditional knowledge and practices as the basis for balanced technological and innovative programs • encouraging the respect of the sites and decisional processes that safeguard communities and people • promoting work opportunities, food security, environmental protection and community resilience • promoting socially and economically sustainable development by extending the spatial boundaries and conceptual frontiers of the landscape • encouraging participatory and bottom-up programs together with activities based on local knowledge • empowering communities and institutions in decision-making processes; • fostering the respect for human rights, including the rights of communities to ensure their livelihood and preserve their resources, identity and beliefs • reacting in an adaptive and participatory way to risk and catastrophes • combating desertification, land degradation and drought, preserving biological diversity and mitigating the effects of climate change; • preserving diversity, tangible and intangible heritage assets; • ensuring the ecosystems’ continuity in providing services to communities;

call upon intergovernmental agencies and sec-

retariats responsible for United Nations programs and international conventions together with nongovernmental organizations to: • strengthen global awareness on the need to safeguard and improve landscapes as an integral element of sustainable development processes; • share information and make expertise available; • establish effective partnerships;

further call upon these bodies together with the pertinent UNESCO Centers and Chairs to create a Working Group in order to foster the coordination between the existing international instruments

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 and programs to promote international, national and local policies aimed at linking the safeguarding and improvement of landscapes;

support immediate national and local govern-

ment initiatives for the protection of landscapes including educational and awareness programs and utilizing traditional knowledge;

request the creation in 2013 of an International

Forum for the safeguarding of landscapes as a tool for sustainable development, with the aim of advancing proposals for reflection on the Post-2015 International Development Agenda and to initiate the process for the creation of relevant international mechanisms.

LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITIONS: First IFLA Photo and Video Contest

Paula Villagra Chair of IFLA’s Communication Committee pvillagi@puc.cl Even though photographs are wordless, they can convey powerful meaning. Photographs can communicate ideas clearly and express emotions in a way words cannot. IFLA’s first Photo and Video Contest aimed at finding images with powerful messages about natural, cultural and urban landscapes in transition around the world. This was also the theme of the 49th IFLA Word Congress held in Cape Town, South Africa last September, where Landscapes in Transition were defined as those being changed by various forces and processes over time. Through dynamic interaction people have altered their environment by cultural practices which have in turn themselves been fundamentally shaped by the particularities of that environment.

We made a call for images that depicted informal and spontaneous landscapes in transition created by communities or individuals demonstrating how they deal with a changing world. We received 96 entries from Australia, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand,

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Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, The United States, The UK and Turkey.

Big thanks to all of you who sent beautiful, suggesting and meaningful images!

NATURAL LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION The best photographs in the NATURAL Landscapes in Transition category are those characterized by trees, water and desert. Yazd, Bride of deserts,

by Sara Dadras from Turkey depicts a landscape where man’s influence will always be limited due to elements beyond his control. It is a powerful image that shows how nature finds its way, even in the hardest situation. Large water, by Marcelo Vassalo from Brazil, depicts a place where an intervention will always be tenuous and at the mercy of the overpowering landscape surrounding it. It is also an example of how humankind arrives to the most inaccessible natural places, sometimes through incredible and sensitive works like in Iguaçu. The winning photograph, entitled Gleisdreieck Park by Daniel Heinrich from Germany, depicts how nature re-conquests landscape. It conveys the hopeful idea that somehow every impact has a solution; it is only a matter of time.

CULTURAL LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION Images that represent this category are striking examples of how people’s impact on the landscape can be beneficial in that it may create connections with our history and natural surroundings. The third place of this category was for A slow reversal of the Karoo cultural landscape, by Christpoher Schelling from South Africa. The jury found this image to depict beautiful soft colors and a clear message of cultural transition. The depth of contrast is outstanding on so many fronts. Local Traditions

by Clare Burgess also from South Africa, received the second place. Clare explains that this photo was taken after the installation of an extensive, new non-motorized transport scheme to provide bicycle and pedestrian routes in the township of Khayelitsha, Cape Town. All new street trees are provided with a protective cage to prevent goats from stripping the bark off. However, the goats still find a way to nibble the greenery. For the jury

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 NATURAL LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION Finalists . From left, clockwise: Former site of Fryston Colleries, Castleford, United Kingdom by Alex Patience, Last mesias apology, Mexico by Marcos Betanzos, The beginning of settlement, The Sahara, Africa by David Gibbs and Serene threat, Bwindi, Uganda by Thomas van Viegen

it shows how everyone adapts to the given conditions, even goats. The photograph also illustrates an interesting message of cultural conflicts in the landscape. The winner was Shaped by The Cultural and Social Factors of Local People, by M.G. Vignesh Manikandan from India, a wonderful visual composition that combines everyday life, tradition, decay and heritage. The image suggests how Mother Nature is slowly reclaiming what is hers.

URBAN LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION It is difficult to find urban landscapes which can connect us with life and the power of nature while being in a process of change. But the winners in this category were at the right place at the right CULTURAL LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION Finalists . From the left, clockwise: Eyewitness works, Sheffield, United Kingdom by Alex Patience, Landscape of orchards, North Kent, England by Vladimir Guculak, Nature recovering the area, Horonai, Mikasa city, Hokkaido, Japan by Yuji Sakai, Castillo de Villapadierna, Spain by Roberto Llames, Ndumo Forest, South Africa by Prakash Bhikha, Forces of the community and natural succession, The Sultan garhi tomb precinct, Delhi, India by Deepika Jauhari and Spiritual anchor, Banks of River Mahanadi, Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh, India by Aparna Goyal

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012

URBAN LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION Finalists . From left, clockwise: Greenwalling graffiti, London, United Kingdom by Anke Engelbrecht, Urban food garden. Food gardening on the sandy soils of the Cape Flats, Cape Town, South Africa by Clare Burgess, Langrug informal settlement, Franchhoek, Western Cape Province, South Africa by David Gibbs, Between urban regeneration and re-conquest of nature, Porto Vecchio by Mina Fiore, Landscape technology urban design project, Cape Town, South Africa by Johan van Rooyen and First light, Dese, Ethiopian Highlands by Thomas van Viegen

time. An installation created out of found objects

by Micahel Minshin from the USA was awarded third place. The most exceptional aspect of this image is that it conveys simplicity in so many ways while being an inspiring example of natural flair in urban environments. In contrast, TopografĂ­a de la Basura (Trash Topography) by Marcos Betanzos from Mexico, depicts a degraded landscape that directly impacts his life. The message illustrated in this photograph is that landscapes, even in adversity, offer the very poorest in society a little hope.

The image is also interesting from an aesthetic point of view. Its composition accentuates the garbage problem in our society. Last but not least, is Tree of life by Marguerite Lombard from South Africa who received first place of this category. This image was taken at the Western Cape Province and

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shows how electricity comes to Fairy Land. This image is interesting from the perspective of its composition as well as its meaning. The ordered and aesthetic graphic pattern of the photography is in contrast to people´s quality of life and that the romance of urban decay is always fascinating (at least visually).

Be inspired, prepare your camera and be ready for our next contest! The topic is Shared Wisdom, which is also the theme of the next IFLA World Congress in New Zealand. Visit our webpage (http://www.iflaonline.org/) check out our facebook page (IFLA Federation Landscape Architects) or contact us at (iflaphotovideocompetition@ iflaonline.org) for further information.

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 NATURAL LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION . Winners: (top) Gleisdreieck Park, Berlin, Germany by Daniel Heinrich, (bottom) Large water, Iguazu Falls, Argentina by Marcelo Vassalo

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 JURY Desiree Martinez, IFLA President Nigel Thorne – IFLA Vice-president European Region Diane Menzies – IFLA Past President Christine Bavassa – IFLA Executive Secretary and Web Master Paula Villagra – Chair Communication Committee of IFLA * A especial thanks to the jury who evaluated the photographs and provided inspiring comments which were used to write this articles.

IFLA COMMUNICATION COMMITTEE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES Europe: Marina Cervera (mcerveraalonsodemedina@gmail.com) Asia-Pacific: Yuko Tanabe (tanabe.landscapes@ mac.com) America: María Teresa Espinoza (ecadstudio@ hotmail.com) Africa: Carey Duncan (duncan.carey@gmail.com) Collaborators: Darwina Neal, Pawel Gradowski, Fumiko Takano, Mónica Pallares. * Please contact your regional representative to send information for our webpage and other communication matters.

NATURAL LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION . Winners: (left) Yazd, Bride of deserts, Iran by Sara Dadras CULTURAL LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION . Winners: (top) Local traditions, sich as keeping goast in a Tpwnship environment for slaughter at traditional ceremonies, impacts on urban Greening programmes, Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa by Clare Burgess

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IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 CULTURAL LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION . Winners: (top) A slow reversal of the Karoo cultural landscape, Prince Albert, Western Cape, South Africa by Christopher Snelling, (bottom) Shaped by the cultural and social factors of local people, Streets of Kallukatti, Karaikudi, India by M.G.Vignesh Manikandan

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 URBAN LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION . Winners: (top) Topografía de la basura (Trash topography), Nezahualcoyotl, México by Marcos Betanzos, (bottom) Tree of life, electricity comes to Fairy Land, Western Cape Province, South Africa by Marguerite Lombard

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IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 URBAN LANDSCAPES IN TRANSITION . Winners: An installation created out of found object, United States of America by Michael Minchin

The Development of Creative Co-operation

this short article but to outline how such co-operation between allied disciplines may yield a fruitful outcome.

Tony Williams IFLA Europe, Vice President (Education) IFLA delegate, Irish Landscape Institute

At the IFLA World Council of September 2012, a motion was proposed and passed to form a working group to develop actions and projects arising from the agreement. As the proposer of this motion, it was suggested and accepted that I chair the working group on behalf of IFLA. It is possibly a case of not knowing when to keep ones mouth shut.

IFLA and UIA signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2006 and reaffirmed this in 2012.

The original MoU and notice of the reaffirmation available at the IFLA website. http://www.iflaonline.org/images/M_images/120309-iflauiamou.jpg The essence of the agreement is to ensure that our professions recognize the similarities and differences and that we will aim to develop and promote the distinct nature of our professions. I do not intend to disseminate or analyze the agreement in

Our starting point has been to develop a briefing document to ensure the project is clear in its aims and that objectives are defined and outlined.

PROJECT OUTLINE The agreement makes specific high level aims in terms of how the two institutions can collaborate.

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 The collaboration and dialogue will focus on both administrative matters but also on the development of collaborative projects which will show the true value of a multidisciplinary approach to the challenges our world currently faces as we come to grips with the problems (and the benefits) of an industrial or perhaps post-industrial world.

In terms of the administrative matters, the agreement is clear that our professions are highly skilled in architecture as it is expressed both in the built form of buildings and structures but also in the natural and built environment or landscape. Though we may celebrate the differences, we acknowledge the similarities. The use of words ‘Architect’ and ‘Architecture’ apply to both professions and are not exclusive to either but are inclusive of both.

We may refer to the etymology of the words.

Origin of the word Architect / Architecture: from French architecte, from Latin architectus, from Greek arkhitektōn director of works, from archi- + tektōn workman; related to tekhnē art, skill] Both professions practice architecture whilst acknowledging that we practice different forms.

We practice our profession with the common aim of accommodating humanity at the scale of civil society and also at the individual level.

The working group will discuss issues of common interest in terms of our practice of architecture and acknowledge the similarities and differences between the architecture of building structures and that of analyzing and building landscapes.

Actions arising from administrative matters will be dealt with by both organizations at the international, regional and national level.

Though administrative matters are of importance, the more interesting aspect as a designer is the development of collaborative projects in order to foster a spirit of co-operation. The type and scope of projects is as yet undecided but will no doubt be informed by the current needs of civil society.

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At the IFLA World Council, the UIA President, Mr. Albert Dubler made a presentation of the issues which are of common interest to professions involved in the built and natural environments . This is presented as a separate part of this article. I also had the opportunity and the pleasure to discuss this with Albert before his presentation and was taken with the passion with which the ideas were held and how close it seemed to my own ideas and approaches.

In essence it is of the utmost importance that our professions realize that we (the human race) are custodians of the environment in which we operate and the term ‘Responsible Architecture’ is used to denote the ‘modus operandii’ of the approach to professional life (and perhaps our everyday life) rather than the somewhat overused (and misunderstood) term of ‘Sustainable Development’.

Two issues form the focus of the UIA presentation these being: 1. ‘The role of civil society in the process of mitigating and managing the challenges faced in supporting all life on our planet 2. The role of the green economy’ in assisting this process It is proposed that the primary aim of the working group will be to develop the means by which we can educate our professions and society at large in order to inform the process of adopting and developing a green economy and providing solutions to the challenges faced by our planet.

The examples given draw on the knowledge and resourcefulness of architects, on all professions and on human endeavor in all fields from sociology; natural and physical sciences and psychology with the ultimate aim of creating environments that • are imaginative • require responsible use of resources • are multidisciplinary in nature using all the knowledge available to us • are modest, and acknowledge the skills of others

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 • are useful and functional • are beautiful • have the effect of benefiting civil society and the individual • make us happy with the hope of “good achievement”

I have been elected UIA president with 4 targets: responsible architecture, acknowledged architecture, fair trade in architecture, and rebuild a financial safe base for UIA.

Dear IFLA members, thank you for giving me the opportunity to say a few words in front of your assembly. I will use the word « architect » for all architects, landscape architects, urban planners, architects, interior architects, as a common base.

We have many similarities in our approach to the space where human beings live. We all want to shape this space, in order to make it beautiful, safe, and comfortable for our clients, but also for the whole society. We work for the public interest.

It’s time for us to build on our collaboration with specialists in many fields and demonstrate our capacity to lead a holistic approach.

Today I will address the first topic: responsible architecture, words that we use since 2009 in The last requirement may seem out of place within the UIA instead of « sustainable development », because we felt that « sustainable development » a scientific and engineering environment but the effect of our work as professionals must include an was too commercial, too much linked to lone profit element of this thinking. Doing almost enough, but for the building industry. UIA has for many years worked on this topic. We published as early as 1993 not totally enough might make us feel guilty the Chicago Declaration of Interdependence for a sustainable Future. We applied for COP 15, were It is the intent of this project to provide information and develop exemplary projects which address not officially accepted, but ran a student workshop in Copenhagen, then we were present at COP 16 in the issues in question.

Cancun, COP 17 in Durban and finally to Rio + 20, last June.

As the working group is formed and begins to develop its brief and program, the membership of each institute will be drawn into the process and it The time has now come to launch the next step.

The Rio + 20 conference failed to establish a strong is the richness of our membership that will ensure policy framework, but two important issues were a fruitful outcome. clearly identified : Once the process is underway, regular updates 1. The role of civil society in the process of mitigatcan be expected and as the process develops, we ing and managing Climate Change envisage involving other disciplines working with 2. The role of the green economy the built and natural environment such as Engineers (of all types); planners both urban and rural; and others as the need arises or as the opportunity We architects have a leadership role in civil society, and now have the opportunity to advance our role presents itself. in the green economy. To achieve this, we must reaffirm our leadership in the process. To maintain Appendix I: Original Text – Albert Dubler and advance this leadership, we have to be in the forefront of the process, advocating and demSustainable Futures / Responsible Architecture Speech to the General Assembly of IFLA Tuesday onstrating the fulfillment of humanity’s highest aspirations.

September 4th.2012

As examples I offer the following ideas: 1. Science has shown us remarkable ways in which organisms process energy and materials in support of their lives. We can joke about the poor brain of oysters, but we should be modest enough to learn from them how they use the carbon of sea water

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 and a few proteins to build their shells: a spider operating at room temperature and using only dead flies can create a material that is many times stronger than steel: termites produce structures that achieve remarkable standards of environmental control. It’s evident that we have to learn from nature. Biomimicry offers a huge range of challenges and opportunities.

2. In the fight against desertification, the role of traditional techniques has proven to be efficient.

“The man who stopped the desert” is an interesting film. The President of IFLA and I have agreed that our organizations should work together on the topic, and we hope to have the team together by the end of the Council meeting. We need to work together!

3. Defining soil as a “resource to produce food” is a key part of sustainable futures and sustainable futures must be affordable. Urban agriculture is a tool for affordability that should be an integral part of development planning. Thus we have an opportunity to contribute directly to poverty eradication and the UN Millennium Goals. This opportunity is not limited to the least technologically developed countries or to greenfield sites. The challenges and the opportunities are everywhere, even if they need other skills in more developed countries.

Polluted air in cities makes urban agriculture more difficult though no less important. The implications of requiring a cleaner and healthier living environment for everyone everywhere are part of the challenge.

4. The initiative of the Bhutanese government “Gross National Happiness” acknowledges architecture as an important part of Happiness. We should celebrate and help this initiative, because it uses the same paradigm as we use to talk about “architectural quality or quality of life.” But Bhutan is not alone. Many scholars and institutes have been confronting this and other related issues such as environmental economics. From this there has been a proliferation of ways of measuring quality: the so-called Quality of Life Indicators. We need to welcome this thinking into our vision and our

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practice. The lone GDP paradigm has shown its inadequacy for running the world and has led to some of our current problems, the financial crisis, poverty, exclusion and ecological problems. GNH takes into account all those issues. Let’s change our thinking!

5. In a recent paper in the French magazine “Le Moniteur”, it was written that only “vernacular” architecture cares about sustainability. This should bring us to the logical conclusion that we should be promoting vernacular architecture and architects.

In the dynamics of the modern world, however, this means building on the past but inventing the future. Almost everywhere the challenge for architects it to create the relevant new vernacular.

We should be giving “star status” to architects who dare to tackle this issue. This is a very exciting goal.

Vernacular architecture is not copying regional details on built as usual constructions. It deals first with people and their culture, with local materials, shapes, skills and know how, not with commercial replication. Architectural theory stated once, ‘less is more’. Since the world became aware that the planet has limits, it is now time to claim and demonstrate that we have understood and can apply this ‘less is more’ theory.

6. Architects are sometimes criticized for being « dreamers ». So what ? If you don’t have a dream how are you going to have a dream come true?

Logic tells us that the planet’s limits have been overtaken, yet we continue to seek growth in the consumption of non-renewable materials and energy. This does not make sense. Let’s be realistic!

Let’s dream. Let us aspire to achieving happy and sustainable futures.

These ideas identify some of our aspirations for the future. They must also be coupled, however, with extending our present capabilities. That is why I now present and support the attached proposal – The Sustainable Futures / Responsible Architecture Project.

Through this project we will endeavor to achieve the very best outcomes that we can using the re-

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 sources already developed across the full spectrum of the Member Sections. I propose to work with the Sustainable Futures / Responsible Architecture Project so that it serves its declared objectives while also advancing extension of our aspirations and our operating methods.

Albert Dubler, President UIA Cape Town

IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award 2013

NOMINATIONS DUE: November 30, 2012 The International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA), which represents the worldwide profession of landscape architecture, is soliciting nominations for its Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award.

The IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award is the highest honor that the International Federation of Landscape Architects can bestow upon a landscape architect. The Award recognizes a living landscape architect whose lifetime achievements and contributions have had a unique and lasting impact on the welfare of society and the environment and on the promotion of the profession of landscape architecture. The award is bestowed annually on an academic, public or private practitioner whose work and achievements are respected internationally.

Candidates may be nominated by IFLA Member Associations, delegates, individual members and allied organizations, as well as independent sources. The award recipient will be identified through a nomination and jury selection process. The award recipient will be notified by the IFLA President and invited to attend the IFLA World Congress, where the winner will be announced, the award will be presented, and the winner will make a presentation of his/her work at a suitable function in conjunction with the Congress. The 2013 IFLA World Congress will be in Auckland, New Zealand from April 10-12, 2013.

The IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award was initiated in 2004 on a quadrennial basis. Its inaugural recipient was Peter Walker (USA) in 2005. In 2009 Prof.

Bernard Lassus (France) was granted the Award.

In 2010 the award was changed to an annual one.

The 2011 recipient was Cornelia Hahn Oberlander (Canada) and the 2012 recipient was Mihaly Mocsenyi (Hungary).

Nominations for the 2013 IFLA Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award must be submitted by November 30, 2012.

Refer to the IFLA website ( http://www.iflaonline. org/ ) for the complete Call for Nominations, Timetable and submission requirements.

Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe (1900 – 1996), IFLA President of Honor, served IFLA as founding President from 1948-1954. He was a trained architect, town planner, landscape architect and garden designer, but his prime interest was in landscape and garden design. Jellicoe was a founding member (1929) and then president of the British Institute of Landscape Architects (the ILA - now the LI) and was knighted for services to landscape architecture in 1979. In 1994, he was given the Royal Horticultural Society’s highest award, the Victoria Medal of Honor.

For further information please contact Christine Bavassa, IFLA Executive and Communication Secretary at admin@iflaonline.org

CALL FOR PAPERS

50th IMCL Conference on Reshaping Suburbia into Complete Healthy Communities Governor Hotel, Portland, OR June 23-27, 2013

There was a time when the suburbs offered a healthy alternative to living in polluted industrial cities. Times have changed. Sprawling and fragmented suburbs where distances are too great and streets are too dangerous have significantly contributed to our massive problems of obesity, chronic physical ill health, social isolation, violence and crime.

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 We must act now to adopt healthy, equitable planning practices for reshaping suburbia.

For more information, see: http://www.livablecities.org/conferences/50th-conference-portland Paper proposals are invited on the following topics.

• Reshaping Suburbia • Healthy Communities • Inclusive Neighborhoods • Public Places for Social Life & Civic Engagement • Integrating Public Health & Planning Methods • Generating Community Participation in the Suburbs • Nature in Suburbia • Healthy Transportation Planning • Tools & Methods for Reshaping Suburbia Please see the Presentation Topics on the website for more details about appropriate topics.

Four categories of exhibits are eligible: • Mixed Use in Suburbia: Infill & Re-Shaped • 10-Minute Neighborhoods • New & Restored Neighborhood Plazas • New & Restored Nature Places Deadline for submission: November 1, 2012. All selected projects in all categories will be exhibited at the conference. Awards will be made for outstanding completed projects already in use.

Deadline for submission: November 1, 2012. Please submit abstract online at:

I NT E RV I EW

http://www.livablecities.org/conferences/50th-conference-portland/call-papers

Prof. Miháli Möcsényi, winner of the Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award 2012, interviewed

by Desiree Martinez, IFLA President

INVITATION TO EXHIBIT Successful Designs for Reshaping Suburbia 50th IMCL Conference on Reshaping Suburbia into Complete Healthy Communities Governor Hotel, Portland, OR June 23-27, 2013

Sprawling and fragmented suburbs where distances are too great and streets are too dangerous have significantly contributed to our massive problems of obesity, chronic physical ill health, social isolation, violence and crime. We must act now to adopt healthy, equitable planning practices for Reshaping Suburbia. This is the most critical challenge we now face in making our cities healthy and livable.

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of shopping malls into mixed use town centers, transit-oriented infill development, neighborhood plazas, green streets and green playgrounds - are taking place in the suburbs.

For more information, see: http://www.livablecities.org/conferences/50th-conference-portland

The good news is that some of the most exciting urban design projects today - transformations

DM: What was your reaction when you learned that you had been nominated for the SGJA and how did you react when you found out that you had won?

PM: I was very touched when I learned that Mr. Tamás Dömötör, PhD, President of the Hungarian Association of Landscape Architects nominated me for the SGJA. When grandson-aged professional descendants get leading positions, they usually do not remember veteran colleagues over ninety.

They are very busy and have time only at night to propose nominations with lots of follow-up action.

I was not only touched but I was also very proud because such a nomination, even if it does not come true, is the acknowledgement of a whole lifetime’s work.

When weeks ago a night-time phone call informed me that the SGJA jury had selected me as winner,

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 From left: Desiree Martinez, Prof. Miháli Möcsényi and Ilya Mochalov

I could hardly speak from the honor. When I received the written notification, my feeling of being moved turned into pride since the Award has been won not only by me but indirectly also by the Hungarian landscape architectural professionals and my beloved country as well.

DM: Tell me something about the background of landscape architecture in Hungary?

PM: Hungary is situated in the center of Europe and has ten million inhabitants. In the history of Hungarian landscape architecture, from the seventeen-thirties Samuel Mikoviny was the first who dealt with the development and embellishment of landscape. He was followed, among others by Henrik Nebbien who from eighteen-ten beautified large land holdings and regions nationwide. In eighteen-thirteen Nebbien won the design competition of the Budapest Municipal Park, the first public city park in the world. (Peter Josef Lenné was born in eighteen-sixteen, Frederick Law Olmsted in eighteen-twenty-two.)

The first curriculum for the academic-level teaching of garden and landscape design was created in eighteen-ninety-four; its lecturer from eighteenninety-six was István Révész. His student, Dezső Morbitzer, who graduated in eighteen-ninety-nine as landscape gardener, became garden director of Budapest and as such planned public gardens of outstanding value.

In nineteen-eight Béla Rerrich, assistant lecturer in architecture became professor of the discipline.

He studied ecology and botany at the Hungarian faculty of liberal arts, then garden design at the Academy of Versailles, in the French studio of E. F. André, in the English studio of T. H. Mawson and finally in Dahlem near Berlin. As architect he designed numerous private and public buildings most renowned of which is the monumental building-complex forming the city centre of the town Szeged. However, the works he was really proud of were his grandiose city parks, public gardens and landscape-theoretical teaching activity. After

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 Rerrich’s early death, leaders of our educational institution invited his student, Imre Ormos to follow. Beyond his degree in garden design professor Ormos obtained a second diploma in aesthetics.

He worked abroad several years. By the time he was called home he led landscape design of Ankara, commissioned by Kemal Atatürk. Prof. Ormos is well known nationally and internationally for his garden designs, publications, excellent teaching books, scientific and teaching activity. With his initialization in nineteen-sixty-three, the education of special landscape architecture and a curriculum for the degree “Landscape and Garden Architect” was started. It is his merit that Hungarian landscape architects have become IFLA members.

DM: And how did you become a landscape architect?

PM: I was born in a farming family. In my youth I became acquainted with land, plants and animals. I knew the problems of villages and rural life.

After the matura examination I went to the Academy of Horticulture. There we learned garden architecture, the production of ornamental and industrial plants and their basic and related subjects. My teacher in garden design and the history of garden architecture was the above mentioned, internationally known Professor Ormos. After graduating I entered military service and was sent to the Soviet front. Before going to the army my Professor said, if we survived the war he would expect me back as his assistant. In September nineteen-forty-five, I became assistant lecturer. In those times the activity of our profession was limited to towns and greater settlements.

I had the idea that our activity should be extended to the whole of the country, professionals should be educated for the development and embellishment of rural landscapes. This kind of education and of course a university curriculum barely existed in nineteen-forty-five in any country. I decided to create such a curriculum.

I had ecological skills, but not enough economic, technical-architectural, artistic, aesthetic knowl-

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edge and that of settlement planning. I was determined to take the degrees offering the kinds of knowledge I missed.

First I entered the University of Economy and had there four terms. Then I attended the faculty of arts for two years to learn art history. After that I went to Switzerland to learn the profession in practice. I worked for a year as a skilled worker in Franz Vogel’s garden construction enterprise.

Back home I continued my studies in the history of art and in nineteen-fifty-one I obtained my diploma of art history and archaeology. Then I attended the Technical University, Budapest, learned history of architecture, settlement planning and management, received my diploma and earned my doctoral degree. For three years I also took courses in aesthetics. In the meantime I taught as assistant professor at our university and achieved the doctorate of our profession. In order to be able to give up-to-date information to the students about daily prac-tice, parallel to teaching I worked at various planning, landscape construction and communal companies for five years. In possession of theoretical and practical knowledge, I started to develop, describe and teach the curriculum of wide-range landscape architecture, planning and development.

When my superior, Prof. Ormos retired, I became the Professor leading the branch. I sent my three assistants abroad and gave them the goal that within three years, they should learn a foreign language, broaden their professional knowledge and obtain their doctoral degree. All three of them have since become professors and well-known authorities on the three branches of our profession: garden design, landscape planning and landscape protection, respectively.

In nineteen-seventy-nine I made a program for the further development of our professional training.

Our communist government did not accept it. I was sixty and as it was legally possible, I asked for retirement.

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 DM: How did you get involved in IFLA? PM: At that time, I participated in the work of IFLA, among others, by representing my country in the Grand Council for one and a half decades. I was twice elected vice-president. After the successful nineteen-eighty-four IFLA World Congress in Hungary I was twice elected president. I spent my years in retirement usefully.

DM: What came after being IFLA-President?

PM: When the Soviet troops left Hungary, I no longer belonged to the ‘class enemy to be liquidated’ due to my birth. I was reactivated by the Senate of our university; I was elected president, in Europe that is rector.

Photosynthesis is the miracle when solar energy, carbon-dioxide and hydrogen are transformed to organic molecules in the presence of chlorophyll.

On average ninety-nine percent of plant material originates from air. Nitrogen, kalium, phosphor and other minerals absorbed from soil make up an average one percent of produced organic material. Under normal conditions one square meter of plants synthesizes the carbon-dioxide content of a twenty-five-meter-high air mass above in one hour. Greenhouse producers have known for a long time that the enrichment of air by carbon-dioxide (so-called air-fertilization) results in extra crop yield.

Malthus, who wrote in seventeen-ninety-eight about the tragic contradiction of food production This position was combined with several posand population growth, couldn’t have known that sibilities. In nineteen-ninety-two I succeeded in industrial revolution would result in air-fertilizadeveloping our profession to an independent tion. For a long time after the industrial revolution, university faculty. Since that time we have had food production could only be increased by deforsix departments headed by well known profesestation and water drainage, altogether harmful to sors and staffed with well trained teachers. Our landscape. When around nineteen-fifty, coal and six departments are the following: Department oil-burning reached two-thousand-million tons of Garden Art, Department of Garden and Open per year, and plant breeding and agro-techniques Space Design, Department of Landscape Planning simultaneously developed, global air-fertilization and Regional Development, Department of Landhad a gradually rising effect. By the year two thouscape Protection and Reclamation, Department sand, with the exploitation of gas, the use of fossil of Landscape Technology and Garden Techniques, energy sources rose to sixty-five-thousand-million Department of Urban Planning and Design. Today’s tons and crop yields grew to the multiple of those department leaders represent the sixth generation at the age of Malthus. in our professional history.

DM: What were the outcomes of your research?

DM: Tell me more about Landscape Architecture education in Hungary and your personal rePM: I was president of IFLA when, in the ninesearch activities? teen-eighties the minister of agriculture of the Netherlands asked the leaders of the Federation PM: There is yearly an average of one hundred for advice on how to decrease negative economic and-forty applicants for BSc, fifty applicants for effects of food over production and how to transMSc degree and from five to ten graduates for form ten-thousands of hectares of land extracted PhD. The main directions of study are the three from agricultural production for economic reasons. branches of landscape architecture and settlement (Formerly the sea had been turned into agricultural planning. land in the Netherlands.)

As a pensioner, for ten years I’ve been dealing with the effects of excess carbon-dioxide on landscape.

In the United States and several European countries, farmers get paid for leaving their land uncul-

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012 tivated. In other parts of the world, where air-fertilization cannot be utilized, a large part of the population is starving.

Rainforests are called the lungs of the World. However C4-type sugar cane plantations created on the place of former rainforests produce the multiple of organic material and also oxygen. Of course, on the other hand these plantations largely decrease natural diversity.

In recent decades carbon-dioxide was said to cause global warming. It has been known for a long time that long-wave radiation spreading towards space is absorbed somewhat more effectively by water vapor than carbon-dioxide. Everyday fifty-fivetimes more water vapor gets into the air than carbon-dioxide is freed from fossil energy sources in a year. This ratio makes it clear that carbon-dioxide cannot cause global warming, while as air-fertilizer it does cause grievous economic disturbances and very harmful landscape anomalies.

In the industrial and food production of economically developed countries, human labor ratio decreases gradually. Those companies stay competitive which apply robots instead of workers.

Assigned members of IFLA should induce governments of developed countries to employ people who have become unemployed in consequence of air-fertilization and the use of robots, with the task of the embellishment and maintenance of the world’s landscape through fair wages.

DM: Tell me about your favorite project?

PM: I’ll tell you something private. Fifty years ago together with my wife, we bought an abandoned dolomite quarry by Lake Balaton, the ‘Hungarian Sea’. Together with my family we have transformed this landscape wound, into our beloved, summer holiday place and now we live mostly there, at our “Tusculanum”.

The “quarry” has been visited by numerous Hungarian and foreign friends. It was the place of different meetings, among others, of an in-ternation-

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al youth conference on landscape architecture. It is a pleasure for us to welcome there any honored members of IFLA and have a glass of good Hungarian wine.

DM: Thank you very much! Congratulations on your many achievements and for the work you have done for landscape architecture and for IFLA. I am deeply proud of having the honor to bestow you with the SGJA! I also deeply thank the nomination Committee and the Jury.

BOO K R EV I EW Water Atlas by Pietro Laureano This book highlights the value of the traditional knowledge of pre-industrial societies in the area of natural resource management. The significance of the practical and cultural dimensions of this knowledge, based on a systemic vision of human-nature interactions taking into account the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of natural resource management is underlined. An emphasis is placed on the history of water management, traditional techniques and local knowledge, all considered part of cultural history.

The author reviews the evolution of these practices since the Palaeolithic era by examining nomad hunter-gatherer societies and agrarian societies having developed ingenious water techniques in different parts of the world. Special attention is given to the creation of water management practices developed in arid areas, noting the Oases model described as a sustainable development alternative to the hydraulic civilizations model based on an abusive exploitation of water resources.

The study of traditional knowledge is described as a contribution to developing a new water management paradigm more in line with the sustainable development approach and the integration of technical, ethical and aesthetic aspects. Several examples of the innovative use of ancient water man-

IFLA Newsletter Issue 101 October 2012

agement practices for agricultural, architectural and urban development purposes are described.

This book, with numerous photos, drawings and sketches is a useful guide for designing sustainable solutions to combat desertification and to protecting the landscape and its ecosystems.