Practice and Title Act

[Brandon Reed, CVO, ASLA / Rooftop and Urban Designer / Landscape Architect]

What are your thoughts on better regulation and universalizing both the title and practice act across the whole USA and across the world…..?

Would this help our profession or hurt it?

Why?

[Miguel Camacho-Serna]

Those are good points Michael… I think that in order to keep this discussion less broad, we should define what Brandon means specifically. What is this Practice and Title Act? Something in the works already? Could you elaborate please?

For example, when I hear “regulations”, the first thing that comes to mind are codes. When I worked in the US, there was no way around railings other safety measures that are way more lenient in other parts of the world… did it feel like a limitation for the designers? In a way yes, but it could also be considered a challenge.

Now working in Mexico, as designers we are able to get away with more “adventurous” designs, which are not regulated by a litigious culture, nor limited by fear of getting sued…

So to answer your question, I think that some regulations and standardizations are necessary, but you have to keep a broad mind to take in consideration different cultures, social norms, etc. Perhaps it is more possible to achieve this within the USA, but as far as applying to the rest of the world, it would have to be a series of values that are applicable to all.

As many of us are aware, we already have, both in the US and abroad, an array of Licensing authorities, as well as professional organizations (ASLA, IFLA, SAPM, CAAP, etc) that give us some regulation and definitions for the profession.

[Marc Chapelle]

We cannot even get 50 states to agree on what Landcape Architecture is, and if it is worthy of regulating, on behalf of the general public. Kentucky is fighting DE-licensing by the Professional Engineers, and it took several tries in Colorado, to convince their governer that we LAs actually make a difference in that state. ASLA is pushing a program, “50 by 2010”, to try and get all the states on-board the licensing band-wagon. But even then, there is no uniformity from state-to-state. In VA, it is just a Title state, whereas in CA its a Title/Practice…Vermont, and Washington DC (home of ASLA) don’t give a damn either way, and fight licensure at every turn.

Adding the other 191 countries of the world (Is Taiwan a seperate country? How about Vatican City?) and trying to get any uniform opinion…Well, they can’t even agree on the same kind of measuring system (metric vs feet). Get a UN resolution about Landscape Architecture? That would be fun to see! Sorry to be such a wet blanket on this one. 🙂

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