Since my last blog, the most thought-provoking thing I have heard is Kim Wilkie CMLI speaking at the panel discussion that concluded our series of talks at the Garden Museum in London. He was sharing a platform with Annie Coombs FLI and Chris Young, editor of The Garden, and was discussing the topic ‘realising the green city’. The Garden Museum was fully booked once again with people who wanted to make a contribution. My take-away from Kim Wilkie was that the idea of a ‘green city’ is past its sell-by date and that ‘green’ is now too often being used to describe ‘green cladding’, which is not functional or sustainable. ‘Soiling the city’ is what we should be arguing for, according to him – allowing space for the soil to provide the benefits and services it does, and where possible creating new space for soil to add to what is already there.
An opportunity to soil the city is about to present itself, because as this goes to press we have reached the deadline for our Canary Wharf Student Competition. We have had more than 100 registrations and I am really looking forward to some innovative and exciting proposals, which will showcase to the owners of Canary Wharf what the landscape architecture profession can do. There will be an exhibition of the shortlisted proposals in the New Year.
Thanks to all members who responded to the recent communications survey. This received the largest response we have ever had to anything in recent years and it is giving us some good guidance on what we need to do with our communications over the coming year. The results of the survey will be published shortly.
Thanks, too, to all the people at the Awards ceremony last week who responded to my call for them to follow @talklandscape on twitter. We managed to inch ahead of @land8 to become the largest landscape twitterfeed in the world with over 2,900 followers. But the pressure is on and @land8 is starting to catch up again, so if you are not yet following us, you know what to do!