What will the landscape architecture profession look like in five years’ time? Does the traditional partnership model have a future? How much is the scope of landscape architects’ work going to change because of, or in spite of, the recession? What external factors are going to influence the future of the profession?
The next five years are going to be a time of exceptional pressure on many professions, as economic constraints mix with rapidly-changing expectations from clients and the public.
We need to find a way through this that will maximise the opportunities for landscape architects and minimise the negative effects of the changes which are coming.
To make an effective start with this, I will be inviting chartered members of the LI to share their own experiences of changing circumstances to help us develop a clearer collective picture of what lies ahead. I will be sending out a survey, ‘Our professional future’, in the next couple of weeks thatwill ask you to share information about how your own working life has changed in recent years and what trends you see as important for the future. This will not be a ‘box-ticking’ exercise – the questions will all be open-ended. This means it will take a bit more time to complete, but we need to piece together the richest and most detailed picture possible of where we are.
Please keep an eye out for this survey. I’d be grateful for your responses before the end of May so that there is time to collate them and for Council to consider them when it next meets on 1 July.
A few other opportunities are coming up. Your views are welcomed on the new Green Infrastructure PPS for which we are writing a detailed response; your recommendations are invited for nominations to LI Fellowship and your experience is sought as a mentor to candidates on the Pathway to Chartership.
That’s a mold-berkaer. Great thinking!