风景园林与国际问题

　　Let me give you just one example, that of the Asian Tsunami of 2004. The international federation held a meeting in India 6 weeks after the event.We learnt that coastal areas which had retained vegetation were insulated from the destruction, but those areas which no longer had the protection of stabilising forest and vegetation such as mangroves were devastated. Experience gained by landscape architects from Hawaii was shared with those working on affected areas. In addition, work is being concluded by ASLA to provide manuals on emergency response to tsunamis and other disasters such as Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. The information is timely and I anticipate will be sought after by many other associations. 字串7

Collaboration and advocacy 字串7

　　IFLA collaborates with other organisations to provide co-ordinated responses and share information. One example of such collaboration has been the work undertaken through the German landscape architecture association BDLA on monitoring landscape policy development of the European Union, so that landscape associations can be alerted to changes in policy and be more effective with lobbying.

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　　IFLA promotes newer initiatives as part of its advocacy role. Two particular movements deserve mention. The first is city greening. While the garden beautiful movement has served some cities well, landscape architects are promoting relevance in landscape management. Begonias beds may be attractive, but they do not underpin sustainability in the same way as the planting of indigenous vegetation and trees. The green city movement integrates green initiatives which help to lower ambient city temperatures in summer, by providing green lungs and quality of life for citizens, and reducing pollution from soil runoff and air particles. Protecting the biodiversity of cities, as well as healthy functioning systems, such as wetlands and waterways, is another important aspect.

　　Another green city initiative is water management. Some examples include Waitangi Park: a coastal open space in Wellington with constitutional and cultural associations. The designer of this new park, Wraight and Associates demonstrated how water can be cleaned and reused before discharging into the harbour. This gives a strong environmental care message as well as improving environmental quality standards. Another example is the innovative design for part of North Terrace in Adelaide, South Australia which carries a similar message, in their elegantly designed forecourt. These are but two examples of the constructed wetland approach in order to clean water through biological systems, adapted to city use and conservation. 字串9

　　In Christchurch City, my home town, a policy some years ago to manage streams and waterways for multiple values, rather than just drainage, resulted in streamside management for conservation and water quality. City landscape architects have modified the landscape to rediscover and rehabilitate streams and made many major improvements to riparian margins. The benefits from this continuing project include the return of small fish to the streams and the population expansion of the rare New Zealand Scaup, a small native duck whose existence was threatened, as well as a much better understanding of waterway management by Christchurch politicians and local people, an important aspect, as Christchurch is a city built on a swamp.

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　　A third opportunity for our profession is in heritage conservation. This includes the identification of the valued city spaces which may form the arteries and heart of the city, and conservation and rehabilitation of heritage cities. Heritage conservation can be an important issue in locations which are under threat from population pressures, economic decline, or rapid rehabilitation, such as in Cambodia. In such places, valuable heritage resources may be sacrificed to new development, or simply destroyed through neglect. Heritage conservation requires considering new technologies and infrastructure and is a specialised area of work. While you may enjoy many fine examples of this work, some countries are crying out for such skills to help  conserve the landscapes that still remain. I saw many such examples in India. 字串8

　　A city which has tackled this issue effectively is Ghent in Belgium. At one stage cars took up every open space: the plazas and town squares were choked, and trees were suffocated by indiscriminate parking. Now the city has an effective transportation plan which includes Ghent City bicycles for staff and outlying parking. In other cities, the open spaces have been usurped by commerce - tent markets which fill every inch town square. Again this is an issue to be tackled by landscape architects. The work our profession undertakes is supported by the World Heritage Centre and ICOMOS. 字串4

Where to for the global profession?

　　I see the greatest potential strength for our profession in collaboration with other professions, and agencies. A demonstration of professional skills and abilities at an international level is a strong lever for the continued involvement of our profession in sustainable management.In April the first World Landscape Architecture Month was launched in Beijing, and the month long publicity of the profession will be repeated each year from now on across the world. This launch symbolised the full participation of the Chinese Society of Landscape Architects in the international affairs of the profession. IFLA in turn is proud to participate with CHSLA and Tsinghua University to promote sustainable design through the Beijing Landscape Architecture Summit. We are all part of a rapidly integrating profession.