Landscape architects as an Environment’s Healer? Before and Now

The aim of the symposium is to connect historical archives with contemporary debates on the role of landscape architects in a time of crisis. The symposium addresses the idea of ‘Environment’s Healer’ from a diverse perspective, and triggers the debate on the LA profession today and in the future.

The thematic background is written from the 13th IFLA Congress in Brussels in 1972, which had the title The gardener of the Earth is the environment's healer. At that time, the Norwegian landscape architect Olav Aspesæter, who then worked at NMBU, was IFLA's president (1970-1974). The invited speakers of this symposium will address the role of landscape architects from diverse perspectives.

Free admittance, but registration required, for both physical and online attendance. Please also note that the event will be recorded.

Link to Zoom / online participation

Program

Introduction

• 12:00-12:15:
  • Vice Rector or Dean of Faculty of Landscape and Society, NMBU
  • A short introduction on the project where the symposium is funded, by Luca Csepely-Knorr 

Invited talks

• 12:15-12:35: Can Friluftsliv be a Healer? Peder Anker (Philosopher)
• 12:35-12:55: Rhetoric and practise. Shifts in Norwegian Architectural profession 1960–1970. Nina Berre (Architect and architectural historian)
• 12:55-13:15: From garden art to landscape architecture – Trends in Norway during the 1960s and 70s. Annegreth Dietze-Schirdewahn (Landscape architect and landscape architectural historian)
• 13:15-13:30: Break
• 13:30-13:50: Taking Care. Johanna Gibbons (Landscape architect)
• 13:50-14:10: Four escape routes from modernism. Dirk Sijmons (Landscape architect)
• 14:10-15:00: Panel Discussion: Peder Anker, Nina Berre, Luca Csepely-Knorr, Annegreth Dietze-Schirdewahn, Johanna Gibbons, Imke van Hellemondt, Dirk Sijmons

Background information

This public symposium is part of the ‘Workshop Three’ in the project ‘IFLA 75: Uncovering hidden histories in landscape architecture’ funded by AHRC.

Workshop Three, entitled ‘Landscape Planning in Urban Areas: (changing) profession of landscape architecture in 1960s-70s’, is organised by the Historical Archive of Norwegian Landscape Architecture (ANLA) and the School of Landscape Architecture at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in February 2024.

‘Workshop Three’ contains two workshops and one public symposium. The workshops address the changing profession in the 1960s-70s through archival studies and oral histories. The public symposium ‘Landscape architects as an Environment’s Healer?  Before and Now’ connects historical archives with contemporary debates on the role of landscape architects in a time of crisis, and communicates knowledge with a broader audience. The title of the symposium echoes the 13th IFLA Congress held in Brussels in 1972, ‘The gardener of the Earth is the environment’s healer’. At that time, the Norwegian landscape architect Olav Aspesæter, then working at NMBU, was IFLA president (1970-1974).

You can read this blog article for more information of the IFLA75 project