Do current events have you feeling ready to act but not sure what to do? Start by signing the Landscape Architecture Foundation’s (LAF) New Landscape Declaration.
This bold vision is a 21st century call to action for landscape architecture and serves as a potent reminder of the common values that we share.
“As landscape architects we vow to create places that serve the higher purpose of social and ecological justice for all peoples and all species. We vow to create places that nourish our deepest needs for communion with the natural world and with one another. We vow to serve the health and well-being of all communities.”
The Declaration is the synthesis of the ideas from LAF’s historic Summit on Landscape Architecture and the Future, which brought 700 landscape architects from around the world to the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia last June. The event was inspired by LAF’s 1966 Declaration of Concern drafted by Ian McHarg and five others who decried the burgeoning environmental crisis and heralded landscape architecture as critical to help solve it. Building on this legacy, the New Landscape Declaration asserts the critical role of landscape architecture in addressing the defining issues of our time: climate change, species extinction, rapid urbanization, and inequity.
This is a pivotal moment for the profession and a time for us all to reach beyond traditional boundaries, disciplines, and ways of thinking to have an impact. Add your signature to show your support, discuss the ideas, and send LAF your thoughts on how we — both individually and collectively — can turn the ideas into concrete actions.
By signing the Declaration, you join built environment professionals across the globe in asserting the vital role of landscape architecture and working to answer the call. Together, we can amplify our voices at this critical time when the talents and services of the landscape architecture community are so vitally needed.
To read the New Landscape Declaration and join the growing list of signatories, visit: www.lafoundation.org/declaration.
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Barbara Deutsch, FASLA is the Executive Director of the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF). She brings 10 years of award-winning marketing experience from IBM before becoming a landscape architect. Prior to LAF, Barbara worked on re-greening cities from Hong Kong to DC. She served most recently as an Associate Director for BioRegional’s OnePlanet Communities program to deliver zero carbon, zero waste, livable communities.
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