Have you drawn on ASLA publications such as Climate Action Now: A Landscape Architect’s Guide to Climate Advocacy, The Landscape Architect’s Guidelines for Construction Contract Administration, Principles of Accessibility Design for Landscape Architecture: ADA, ABA, and Other Accessibility Standards and Guidelines, or our public policies for guidance? Have you attended any programs in the SKILL | ED: Education to Build Your Practice series, or made use of ASLA’s LARE Prep materials? Have you been inspired by the education program at the ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture? Then you are the beneficiary of the work of ASLA’s dedicated corps of member volunteers. (And this series of rhetorical questions offers just a tiny sampling of all that our volunteers do!)

ASLA member volunteers play a leading role in the success of ASLA. Your volunteer service is directly related to how we serve our members and the landscape architecture profession. A strong volunteer workforce of more than 250 members spread over 30 committees and other groups deploys the mission of the Society.

ASLA is realigning with our new strategic plan and has evolved our committees to be more effective in achieving our mission through our members’ innovation and expertise. Help us create the future we are committed to.

The ASLA 2022 – 2024 Strategic Plan guides and shapes the work of our colleagues and volunteer leaders. It lays out goals and outcomes in five focus areas: Community, Voice, Scale, Connections, and Innovation. We are looking for thoughtful, forward-thinking individuals with diverse experience to bring the ASLA Strategic Plan to life.

To volunteer for service, please apply online by October 5, 2022.

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We are less than two months out from the biggest and brightest gathering of landscape architects—the ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture is coming to San Francisco this November 11-14.

While there is so much going on—Climate Week NYC, webinars galore, and DREAM BIG with Design: A Virtual Showcase of Landscape Architecture and PreK-12 Design Learning, to name just a few of things competing for your attention this week—the conference is the profession’s signature event: 6,000 attendees, convening this fall in a city with 220+ public parks to attend 120+ education sessions and other special events. It’s a lot to take in.

Just a few areas of special interest to get excited about:

• Field sessions on Friday and Monday, including Quantifying Climate Resilience in the Public Environment and Landscapes of the UC Berkeley Campus
• Interactive Deep Dive sessions for more detailed explorations of a topic
• A dazzling array of 60-, 75-, and 90-minute education sessions browseable by track, professional development credit type, and target audience
• LARE Prep Workshops for those preparing to become licensed landscape architects
• Learning Labs offering LA CES PDH on the EXPO floor

This Wednesday, September 21, is the last day to save up to $130 with the advanced registration rate!

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Since its 2020 founding and being covered by Landscape Architecture Magazine last year, the National Association of Minority Landscape Architects (NAMLA) has had lots going on, from the formation of student chapters to launching a NAMLA Talk Series. Today on The Field, we’re highlighting two NAMLA opportunities with a deadline of this Sunday, September 18, for submissions. Act fast!

Landscape Architecture Portfolio Competition

NAMLA has announced their inaugural Portfolio Competition, open to landscape architecture students, interns, and apprentices. Winners will receive a cash award and will be featured on NAMLA’s social media platforms.

Submission checklist:

• Number of images: 20
• Aspect ratio: 1:1 or 4:5 (portrait)
• Resolution: 150 dpi
• Format: JPEG
• Captions for each image (2,000 characters max., including spaces)

Portfolios must be submitted via email by September 18, 2022.

This competition is a collaborative effort with Vectorworks and OJB Landscape Architecture.

Apply for a NAMLA Micro Grant

NAMLA’s seventh Micro Grant opportunity is sponsored by OJB Landscape Architecture. The prompt for applicants to respond to is:

How can minority groups empower one another to help create pathways to leadership opportunities within landscape architecture?

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Registration is open for the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)’s 2022 PreK-12 Summit: DREAM BIG with Design, A Virtual Showcase of Landscape Architecture and PreK-12 Design Learning.

Scheduled for Thursday, September 22, and Friday, September 23, DREAM BIG with Design will highlight the exciting world of landscape architecture with fun sessions and resources for students in grades preK-12. PreK-12 teachers, school counselors, after school leaders, family members, and design professionals are invited to attend.

This year, DREAM BIG will immerse students in design-centered strategies that address some of the most critical issues of our time—green infrastructure, equity in design, climate action, transportation for all, water and stormwater, and more.

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The realm of public practice, including non-profit and governmental work, offers unique opportunities and challenges to practitioners. In an ongoing series for ASLA’s LAND newsletter, members of ASLA’s Public Practice Advisory Committee and other landscape architects showcase those opportunities and share insights on their public practice careers. The committee has published four interviews so far this year—if you haven’t seen them all, here are the latest interviewees:

Jennifer Shagin, ASLA
Landscape Designer, NES
Interview conducted by Om Khurjekar, ASLA, PLA, Principal, Hord Coplan Macht

“My public sector work has been overall less design oriented and more focused on overall community growth and wellbeing. My campaign for trustee for the Town of Berthoud was self-run and managed; I spent every free moment talking with residents and formulating how I could apply what I know about design to improve their livelihood…My work in office as a trustee in a small town was very fulfilling, and I felt that it was democracy in its truest form.”

Kris Sorich, ASLA
Senior Landscape Architect, Chicago Department of Transportation
Interview conducted by Om Khurjekar, ASLA, PLA, Principal, Hord Coplan Macht

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The International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) has launched a Global Survey of Practice for Landscape Architecture in partnership with the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Boards (CLARB).

The aim is to achieve a better understanding of the practice of landscape architecture around the globe. By identifying similarities and differences in practice regionally and by country, the project seeks to expand the role, definition, and mobility of the landscape architect as well as understand how changes in practice, such as the response to climate change, have forced the profession to evolve.

The Global Survey of Practice launched during the IFLA World Congress in Gwangju, South Korea, last week and all practicing landscape architects globally are encouraged to complete the survey by November 6, 2022.

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The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., will bring leading Black voices in design, art, and architecture to the Museum for INTERSECTIONS: Where Diversity, Equity and Design Meet, dynamic discussions about culture, equity and representation in the built world through the lens of design. The programming is a part of the Museum’s ongoing signature series, Equity in the Built Environment, which focuses on the relationship between equity, social justice, and our built environment.

Launching September 16 and running through December 14, INTERSECTIONS includes a series of programs led by nationally recognized Black designers, architects, and artists. They will engage participants in conversations centered on actions to promote social justice in the built environment. These participatory experiences are designed to provoke new thinking, spark conversation, enlighten, and empower. The season will also include three workshops and a roundtable discussion.

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