Re-imagining Landscapes: Identity | Approach | Stewardship
As we confront the challenges of rising waters, fragile ecosystems, extreme climate events, polluted cities, rapid, unplanned development and degraded environments, equitable healthy living environments and continued ecological appropriateness have become critically endangered. The self-healing capacity of natural systems is becoming severely threatened.
The role of the landscape architect transcends boundaries, in integrating intangible values of culture, people, places, land, water, air, context and site-specific conditions into ecologically healthy places to meet presnt and future challenges. Landscape architects play a critical role in synthesizing a range of professional expertise and skills and are best trained to function as members and heads of multi-disciplinary teams that can work on healing the Earth.
We come from a rich tradition of ecological wisdom and landscape aesthetics; a tradition that can help us direct, distinguish and protect the ecological processes that will define the future of the land and our habitats. The state of Kerala is symbolic of the juncture at which landscape architects stand today. Unquestionably God's own country, its ecological heritage is abundant yet finite and fragile. How we will address the ecological processes inherent in this land, and across the world, through practice and academia, in the years to come, will be our lasting legacy as a profession.
