With its Landscape Futures Initiative, a series of seven symposia, LAF is
addressing the direction and needs of the land design and planning professions
by analyzing future drivers of global landscape change. By anticipating these
changes and trends and responding to them, LAF seeks to redefine and redirect
both the profession and disciplines of landscape architecture and planning,
and develop a blueprint for our future. The ultimate goal of the initiative
is to prepare these professions to assume an informed leadership role and
offer vision and inspiration in the face of rapid landscape change.
To examine the processes of landscape transformation that will affect
societies, environments, and the design professions in the coming decades,
the Landscape Futures Initiative began with the identification of six
drivers of global landscape change:
- Urbanization
- Connectivity
- Culture and technology
- Politics and economy
- Global environmental threats
- Population and social dynamics
The series of symposia, each focusing on a specific
driver of change, is being hosted by universities across the country.
Leadership in Landscape Change, the final symposium, will synthesize findings
of the series and result in a publication that will serve as a vision and
plan for the landscape architecture and planning professions in the
twenty-first century.
The National Endowment for the Arts awarded
LAF a $65,000 grant to support the symposia series, and both EDAW, Inc.
and Sasaki have sponsored the series.
