Good luck justifying the cost. They have us cornered. As far as I can tell, the ASLA and CLARB do very little to justify the enormous fees they charge.
To take the LARE today you are looking at $2,000 in fees alone (before state fees, study materials, travel). Frankly, it is disgusting, and a tremendous barrier to entry for young landscape architects. As for the ASLA and their mouthpiece Landscape Architecture Magazine, as far as I can tell, all they do is organize overpriced conferences (you’re looking at $4000 for fees, flights, and accommodation to attend the ASLA annual meeting) and give the same awards to the same 10 firms (predominantly for private sector–or privately funded–work with massive budgets). These organizations are so out of touch with the core of the profession.
The only reason I ended up paying the membership fees was to be a member of my local chapter that actually does something (an additional fee to join the local chapter)…
I thought the ASLA and CLARB were here to serve us, but it seems the reality is that that we’re here to line their pockets. Shall we start a revolt? Unlikely, but we can boycott their annual meeting and stop paying for membership. It would be refreshing to see some of the leaders in the field stand up the ASLA and call them on their BS.
FYI…you’re unlikely to find any ASLA or CLARB representatives replying to these blog posts.
