Start Date : 26 Jun 05   End Date : 29 Jun 05 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

The opening sentence of Geoffrey and Susan Jellicoe's book 'The Landscape of Man', published in 1975, reads: "The world is moving into a phase where landscape design may well be recognized as the most comprehensive of the arts." The 42nd International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) World Congress will explore past examples and future forecasts of how this may come to pass worldwide.

All the themes listed below have educational implications and papers discussing these themes are welcome. Papers should address ideas and examples in which landscape leads the way towards solutions or provide a holistic context for developments of any sort. Positive examples, particularly those identifying the way ahead rather than the past, will be particularly welcome. Full papers must be submitted to info@iflaonline.org electronically by 30th May 2005.

Congress Themes

• Theme 1: URBAN GROWTH AND DECLINE
• Theme 2: SAFER CITIES AND TOWNS
• Theme 3: RURAL GROWTH AND DECLINE
• Theme 4: QUALITY, AESTHETICS AND ECONOMICS
• Alternative Theme: THE EDINBURGH FRINGE
  

Please click here to for more information about the conference or to register: http://www.l-i.org.uk/ifla/info/index.php

IFLA-UNESCO Student Design Competition - Safer Cities and Towns

UN-HABITAT’s Safer Cities Programme is collaborating with IFLA on the subject of ‘Safer Cities and Towns’. This subject has been chosen as the topic for this year’s IFLA/UNESCO student competition. It is hoped that the prize-winning designs will inspire others with ideas about how landscape design can make towns and cities safer.

The competition is sponsored by the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and is directed by the United Kingdom’s Landscape Institute. The objective of the competition is to recognize superior environmental design achievements by students in Landscape Architecture programs.

In our vision of a Safer City, public space is accessible, lively and safe; residents and visitors feel encouraged to engage in various activities and different types of users find it possible to have access and make use of public space without undue restrictions and barriers. In a Safer City, conflicting uses and cultural or behavioural patterns are managed and integrated by careful design and planning, and by meticulous management and maintenance mechanisms. Students are asked to submit projects which interpret the meaning of 'Safer Cities and Towns' from whichever angle that stimulates their imagination.

For more information about the student competition (Awards, Eligibility, Judges, Submission Requirements and Competition Rules) please visit: http://www.l-i.org.uk/ifla/competition/

Student Charette

A Charette is proposed for students during the Congress. It is to be led by Neil Challenger from New Zealand who is also a Landscape architecture programme lead in Singapore, and Professor Cahtarine Ward-Thompson, director of research, environmental studies department, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. The Charette will be a rapid on the spot project for students from all over the world to work together on a defined brief for a real site on the subject 'Safer Cities and Towns'.

Provisional dates are:

• June 24-26th, for the charette;
• Congress lectures on June 27-28th, at the special student rate;
• And a field trip on June 29th consisting of a picnic in the hills followed by an afternoon visit to Ian Hamilton Finlay's garden at Little Sparta.