News
Landscape Institute Conference to reveal how food shapes the landscape and lives of cities
1st October 2008
Can good landscape architecture add to the market value of housing? Can it help make people healthier? Can we still build three million new homes in England, and if so, what should they look like? These are some of the questions to be tackled at the Landscape Institute Annual Conference.
The conference, held on October 9 and 10 at Regent’s College London, will explore key concerns facing landscape architects, planners, architects and policy makers. Further issues to be debated include the cost of not creating good quality landscapes, and how we resolve conflicts over land use: playgrounds or car parks; allotments or parks; food or bio-fuels; green belt or housing?
Keynote speakers include author and architect Carolyn Steel; Sir Terry Farrell; Director of CABE Space Sarah Gaventa; Chief Executive of The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust Karin Woodley; Director of External Affairs at the House Builders Federation John Slaughter; and leading landscape architect Professor Robert Tregay.
The opening day will also see the launch of the Landscape Institute’s Climate Change Position Statement, highlighting the critical role landscape architecture can play in delivering climate change policy objectives and examples of the work of the profession.
A range of site visits to innovative housing schemes in London will also take place. President of the Landscape Institute Neil Williamson said: “Landscape architects understand the bigger picture. This conference will address fundamental issues about land use, resolving conflicts over differing uses and how land use decisions can lead to more sustainable communities.”
Farrell will outline in particular his hopes for the Thames Gateway, while Woodley will address the role of built environment professionals in creating spaces where people can be visibly part of their community.
Carolyn Steel, author of “Hungry City,” will examine the fundamental relationship between food and cities, while day two features a presentation by Phil Heaton, designer of one of the key projects in the recent television series “Kevin McCloud and the Big Town Plan,” and a panel discussion involving Sarah Gaventa, John Slaughter and Peter Wilder, director of MacFarlane Wilder.
