2023 NZILA Firth Conference wrap
“I see here in Aotearoa an environmental or a landscape awareness that I find enchanting and deeply important.”
That from 2023 NZILA Firth Conference keynote speaker Kate Orff, reflecting as the event drew to a close last Friday evening.
Shannon Bray and Kate Orff were part of the debate chaired by Judge David Kirkpatrick at the end of the conference including all the keynote speakers.
Kate is a professor at Columbia University and the founder of Scape Landscape Architecture and presented on the final day of conference alongside Tama Whiting about landscapes which spark regional transformation. We will be hearing more from Kate here on LAA later in the week.
Another of the international speakers addressing the final day of the conference was Dr Jala Makhzoumi who LAA featured in the countdown to the event. Her work spans multiple continents and countries, including Iraq, Lebanon, and the United Kingdom. She spoke about a landscape architecture approach to sustainable urban growth
NZLA President Henry Crothers also reflected on the conference, saying Nelson was a great host city and it was valuable to learn a little bit more about the region and the city.
Jala Makhzoumi and Rob Adams during the debate chaired by Judge David Kirkpatrick which rounded off the 2023 NZILA Firth Conference.
“We've been exploring a theme of of Growing Pains, and I think that it's really topical in terms of some of the challenges facing us in New Zealand as we as we grow and intensify and deal with significant landscape issues.
“What we've learnt over the last couple of days is that wherever you are in the world we're dealing with some of the same issues and exploring those has been really valuable.”
Henry says the conference also explored the opportunities that the profession is facing here in Aotearoa.
“I think there's some some really significant opportunities in terms of the synergies between what we're trying to achieve culturally here in New Zealand and what we're trying to achieve as landscape architects on our projects.“
He says the international conference speakers highlighted how some practitioners are able to respond to the challenges facing the profession, and the landscape, with urgency.
“I think that's something that still is a bit of a challenge here in New Zealand; to respond to the challenges of of climate adaptation and we need to find ways of doing it well and with urgency.”
The conference theme was “Growing Pains.”
Kotchakorn Voraakhom from Thailand, who presented on day one of the conference, says she learnt a great deal over the event.
“I think one thing that was intriguing me is about the land, New Zealand. It is not only just beautiful, but I just feel like there's kind of tremendous energy. I see that in the relationship between the land and its people and how it's carried through the history.”
While she acknowledged the pain that still exists in the journey of indigenous peoples, she was impressed at how the landscape architecture profession was trying to work on that. “Landscape architects can define, redefine and continue to refine it to fit the land and to fit the local people and their indigenous wisdom. I think that's very impressive.”
Kotchakorn Voraakhom and Jala Makhzoumi during the debate chaired by Judge David Kirkpatrick.
LAA will have more from conference over coming weeks including interviews with Kate and Kotchakorn.
Meanwhile the NZILA team is already working on the next conference. The 2024 NZILA Conference will be held in Wellington on 16 - 17 May at the InterContinental Hotel with the 2024 Awards Gala Dinner being held on the evening of 17 May at the Banquet Hall at Parliament.
