Call of Paper: Mind the Gap: Landscapes for a New Era, EFLA Regional Congress

EFLA Regional Congress

Estonian Landscape Architects' Union (ELAU) and
European Federation for Landscape Architecture (EFLA)

Gives you a warm welcome to the official website of EFLA Regional Congress "Mind the Gap: Landscapes for a New Era"!The congress will be held in Tallinn (Estonia) from 2 to 4 November 2011, and is organized by the Estonian Landscape Architects' Union (ELAU).
We are hoping to welcome around 400 guests from European and neighbor countries. Both academics and practitioners from different fields are invited to participate and share their knowledge and experiences, revealing the most astonishing results in the landscape architecture field.

The congress program will consist in plenary and parallel presentations followed by open discussions. There will be 6 keynote speakers and 68 speakers divided into 18 parallel sessions. The official congress language will be English. 
As part of the congress program there will be social evening events, exhibitions, student competition as well as pre and post tours around the unique and picturesque places in Estonia. 
This event will mark a new chapter in EFLA's history as the first (of several) Regional Congress of the European Region of IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects). Agreements have been established to continue with the tradition in 2012 (Barcelona) and 2013 (Germany).
After the congress, EFLA will held its two days annual General Assembly in Estonia, so far only taken place in Brussels.
We are looking forward to have you in Estonia,
Sincerely yours,
Congress Organising Committee

Registration is now open.
Join the mailing list, this way you can get all the most important news about our congress.
Papers Submission
* Papers selected for oral presentations will be considered valid only upon confirmation of registration by the author(s)
The abstracts should be submitted electronically through our website www.efla2011.com by 15 May 2011.
Abstracts are required for all presentations, including posters, and should comprise a maximum of 500 words. All pictures and graphics should be uploaded electronically as well in one file (doc or pdf, file maximum size 6MB).
PDF View Guidelines for Abstract Submission

Submit Your Abstract Here


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Scientific Committee




Session Topics

Day 1:  Gaps in Urban Landscapes – New Landscapes

1. Forgotten places: landscape, culture and identity
This session proposes new ways to understand urban cultural landscapes. Landscapes are complex phenomena. In addition to an assemblage of physical factors, it is widely accepted that landscapes reflect human activity imbued with cultural values representing an understanding of historical evolution. Combining elements of space and time, landscapes represent political as well as social and cultural constructs. In this sequence of sessions, we seek to understand how new kinds of professional roles and public processes may broaden the practice of public history, architectural preservation, environmental protection and commemorative public art when these individual perspectives are perceived as parts of a unified urban landscape history. Speakers will address these and other questions: How are historic places interconnected with the urban fabric? How should we integrate and regenerate historic sites with contemporary design? How can we integrate the development of non-places in city structure?
2. Eco-city: sustainable design and solutions
With current world-wide attitudes toward environmentally responsible materials and operations, attention is turning to the role of Landscape Architecture to improve sustainability. More than ever, professionals in urban planning, landscape architecture and architecture are seeking ways to minimize the adverse threats on landscapes and environment.
Among the biggest challenges is helping to create sustainable new sites or limit the environmental impact of existing sites, while still ensuring an efficient, cost-effective, and safe finished product.
This session will emphasize new and recent exemplary projects, sharing the uniqueness of each site and circumstances, as well new techniques, trends and theories in the field.

3. Water as key-element: waterscapes / water management / waterfronts
Water is an element that is selfless, transformable and full of surprises; at the same time it is quiet and powerful, functioning as a continuous cycle of life for all organisms. Its untarnished beauty and elementary power are regarded with respect in many cultures, and water is admired and revered in religious and mythological ceremonies. It can exist underground in sewers or it can be on open land in ponds, rivers or even the sea. Water can be purely functional, such as in drinking water, or it can be aesthetic, such as in a fountain.
Without water, there is no life and consequently there can be no cities. But where does water come from and where does it go? Can sewers and fountains create new types of co-existence? How can we address excess water or a lack of it? What are the impacts on urban life with rising sea levels and river floods? Should we barricade water or let water flows take their own course?
This session will explore new trends in the field through case studies, revealing astonishing connections between cityscape and water.

4. Dynamic Landscapes
Landscapes continually evolve, and natural processes such as earthquakes, landslides, and even groundwater discharge are manifestation of this evolutionary process. Landscape is in constant evolution, whose character is deeply a result of the action and interaction of natural and human factors. Year after year, our landscapes are experience greater pressures either by human settlements, climate change or dynamics of nature. Sometimes, the best decisions are not taken into consideration and drastic changes in land use and land management can disturb the inner-dynamics of landscape.
In this sequence of sessions, speakers will address these and other questions: How will we be in the future? Will we face a stronger impact due to the climate change? How should we manage city waterfronts and shore erosion? How can we best protect sea shore ecosystems and river banks from destruction? What are the accurate results and techniques in landscape planning, land use and land management? How shall we control the transformation of our landscapes?
This session aims to bring together various experts with diverse backgrounds, to better understand the different impacts on the landscapes and solutions achieved. Papers should bring case studies (and research) as well as new techniques that successfully contributed to protect the inner-dynamics of our landscape.

5. Living Systems: Contemporary Trends and Innovative Technologies in Landscape Architecture
Every work of Landscape Architecture is embodied with uniqueness, deriving from the talents and skills of the designers, the requirements of the program and the nature of the place. However, the development of our profession over time is influenced by an unusual number of factors – political, economical, sociological, environmental, technological, etc. Traditional tasks are currently replaced by modern ways of thinking and designing and easy access to information leads to changes in tools and methods.
Landscape Architecture is facing a paradigm shift – from conventional methodologies to the foundation or re-discovery of new trends more suitable to the today's fast-paced work, and the use of innovative materials and technologies.
The session endeavors to present, synthesize and discuss actual and future challenges in our profession deeply influenced by contemporary trends and innovative technologies.

6. Wild Card: Open Topic
Are you not inspired by any of the session topics above? We invite papers on any aspect related to the Day 1 theme: Gaps in Urban Structure – New Landscapes.

Day 2 – Gaps in Urban Life – New Lives

1. Landscapes of Transformation: Design for Everyone
Developing a design that takes into consideration needs and expectations of different individuals is critical to a successful project. Integration of Universal Design (or 'Design for All') concepts during the early stages of a project helps to create environments with equal opportunities regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, cultural background and capabilities.
However, the application of those concepts in the outdoor environments has been slower to gain importance in the public's perception and at the political level. We also know that the natural environment plays an important role in improving health, mental and physical strengths, promoting socialization among different strata of the society and improving the quality of life for everyone.
We are all connected with nature. None of us can survive if we exclude nature from our lives.
Therefore, this session aims to bring experts dealing with Landscape that have successfully introduced Universal Design concepts into their work (from theories to design), contributing to important transformations at the social and political level.

2. Different Faces for Different Places: Multi-diversity in Urban Context
Urban environments evolved to a multiculturalism entourage due to the liberty of movement, easy access to information and the tendency to seek for better life opportunities. Cities faced in the past an identity crisis and it's something to be noticed once again.
At present, societies seem to be polarized. On one hand society groups are older, better educated and more environmentally aware, but on the other hand the diversity of ethnic groups with different social behavior and cultural backgrounds is increasing. These groups have different values and attitudes. But most people have a need to access and enjoy different types of landscape at different times and for different purposes.
The relationship between society, land and landscape is more complex than thought. Attitudes are reflected in behaviour and recreational activity, as well as in expressed preferences.
This session invites professionals from all areas to reflect about how ethnic association shapes urban identity, how ideal landscape is forged through a process directed by individuals and institutions in a specific cultural context, and how design and planning can be used to combat social discrimination and conflict due to age, poverty, culture, and ethnic minority status.

3. Transforming Communities: Social Learning and Community Engagement
Over the past decades, a wide range of methods has been established in different countries concerning community planning and engagement. These methods gave a new output towards the involvement in planning and management of the environment at the community, political and private levels. It is widely accepted that this is the only way people will create desirable surroundings, ensuring a safer, stronger, healthier and more sustainable community; as well as feeling more attached to an environment they had helped to create.
But how should we approach community planning? How can local people best involve themselves in the complex world of architecture, landscape planning and urban design? Which role is best for landscape architects? How can professionals best build on local knowledge and resources? How can we create and promote cooperation between communities, governmental authorities, and private and non-profit organizations?
This session aims to present, synthesize and discuss actual and future challenges in our profession deeply influenced by civil initiative, social wellness and community planning.

4. Changing disciplines, Changing landscapes: Communication as a gap
Landscape architecture has always maintained a commitment to cooperating with related disciplines that seek to shape the built and natural environment. The enormous complexity of current problems in environmental design makes unprejudiced cooperation with related disciplines urgently necessary.
By working with other professions we expand our ability to better envision the decisions we make. At the same time, interdisciplinary work is an opportunity to expand understanding about the potential role that landscape architects could play in a variety of project types.
While collaboration is not necessarily easy, issues such as lack of communication between different professionals and between governmental agencies can compromise creative solutions and jeopardize the quality of urban life. Scarcely any competitions for urban development or landscape architecture projects are announced today without requiring interdisciplinary cooperation.
Speakers will address these and other questions: How can we encourage collaboration between professionals? Which solutions are better able to bring interdisciplinary teams to work together? What role does the landscape architect play on these teams? Is there a need to define (or re-define) a new language that connects government decision-makers with the professionals of space-shaping?

5. From teaching to practice: new research and methodologies in Landscape Architecture
Education in Landscape Architecture has changed drastically over the last decades. As a dynamic process, education requires continuous improvements through research, development and innovation. Based on these aspects, teaching methods can become more vital.
Those events are crucial if landscape architecture seeks to remain relevant and play a leading role in protecting and developing the physical, social, economic and cultural aspects of our landscapes. Through research and implementation of new methodologies, the quality of pedagogical techniques and curricula can better serve the needs of today's students.
Speakers are invited to address these and other questions: How can universities prepare future landscape architects to address these challenges? What new approaches to teaching and learning are effective in landscape architecture? What has recently changed to improve the quality of curricula?
This session aims to inspire reflection over education practice, critique of contemporary educational practices, and recent achievements and proposals for more updated and influential educational methods.

6. Reading in between the gaps: philosophy and landscape
Landscape as an object of philosophical reflection and interpretation can be considered as one of the newer trends of the philosophy of nature. Currently, landscape refers to a totality, an interaction system of multiple natural processes, functioning as both a reflection space as well as a foundation for all ways of life and a status of development for human communities.
By uniting with landscape architecture, the philosophy of nature can free itself from traditional perspectives, judgments and representations to adopt a concrete and clear position.
This session aims to explore the current as well as emerging philosophies, theories and approaches in landscape architecture. Abstracts should explore the influence, use and rich diversity of these philosophies, theories and approaches which contribute to the further enrichment of landscape architecture theory.

7. Healthy cities, healthy lives: legislation, policies and effective governance
More than half of the world population lives in urban areas. While cities fight to build strategies that address the impacts of growth, climate change and other environmental problems, one of the most important threats of all remains the quality of urban health.
The way in which urban areas are planned shapes people's life choices and has a strong influence on health outcomes. Rapid, unplanned urbanization has exceeded the ability of local governments to build essential infrastructure and enforce legislation that makes life in cities safer and healthier.
Cities can be healthy for all people and we must plan and design our cities to promote health. This can be realized by considering the impact on health of all urban policies giving special attention to reducing inequities between city inhabitants. Local governments have fundamental importance in taking a leadership role in combining the talents and power of all sectors.
This session aims to focus on speakers who have been involved with legislation and policies at local, regional or national governments to promote healthier cities. We invite papers that (1) share successful experiences from different countries, (2) identify solutions to problems and the best strategies found to develop better legislation, and (3) generate effective policy solutions boost governance leadership and cooperation.

8. Wild card: open topic
Are you not inspired by any of the session topics above? We invite papers on any aspect related to the Day 2 theme: Gaps in Urban Life – New Lives.

Day 3 – Quality of Life / Quality of Living

1. Temporary Landscapes and Art Intervention
Most of us believe that the environment around us is eternal. We are brainwashed daily with information that gives us the right to think that nothing is changing and everything is permanent. But if we examine our environment more closely, we find that the only thing we can be certain of is change. Nature as we know it is never static but is a dynamic set of forces where all sorts of elements constantly cycling in and out.
In this context, new movements such as temporary landscapes, art installations or ephemeral landscapes serve to raise public awareness in a variety of ways in which the city as a lived space can be transformed and experienced.  By transforming the city space into an interaction stage, artists and designers will have a multitude of opportunities for reflection and artistic expression related to the urban space, creating new and changeable environments and transforming city dwellers' lives.
This session aims to bring professionals in the field to share and discuss their project experiences about how temporary landscapes and art interventions can transform public places and how these movements are accepted by the citizens and which advantages brings these movements to promote better quality of live in the city environment.

2. Critical and Creative thinking
Creativity is the most popular word in the design world. Everyone wants to be a creative soul. However, the first step in producing something truly creative is to know how to think critically.
Connecting knowledge to design depends as much as how well we think and how much we know. Just as landscape is our most important resource, thinking is our most valuable tool. However, many of society's norms and values act as barriers to personal creativity and critical judgment, leading to trivial results.
What we are facing at the moment is an urge to a new source of inspiration or a paradigm shift. Design thinking requires knowledge that is actively directed and contextual rather than passive and socially mediated. Design thinking requires the integration of critical and creative thinking, which must be organized into a pattern that integrates rather than conflicts.
This session welcomes expertise with refreshing inputs on the field, able to break common patterns of thinking, able to jump off from this twisted reality and think "out of the box".

3. Environment and Behaviour: improving the quality of life
Environmental design research suggests that people are affected, consciously and unconsciously, by the environments in which they live and work. The environments, either natural or built, deeply effect people's feelings, behaviours, health and work.   The field of environment-behaviour studies (EBS) has been an emerging area of intellectual focus for the last thirty years. It seeks solutions for problems involving human-environmental interactions and endeavours to create, manage, protect, and restore environments that promote behaviour for a better quality of life. However, little research has been conducted to determine how best to design, or which solutions provide most desirable conditions in the environment.
Speakers are invited to address these and other questions: How do people shape and influence the environment? Which characteristics of people are relevant in shaping the environment? How and to what extent does the physical environment affect people? How important is the designed environment and in which contexts? What are the mechanisms that link people and environment in a dual interaction?
This session aims to synthesize, discuss and generalize successful EBS' approaches and methods that improve quality of life.

4. Regional planning, infrastructures performance and mobility
Recent decades were marked by rapid and unplanned urban sprawl; the rapid growth of cities now blurs the limits between urban and rural environments. As a result we have vast urbanized territories, where mobility needs have increased substantially as a consequence of economic and social development.
The dispersion of residential areas and decentralization of activities and services increases the need for functional and planned mobility. For that infrastructure plays an important role in sustaining our economy and quality of life; residents must be able to travel quickly and easily around metropolitan regions so they can reach a wide variety of opportunities.
However, the difficulty experienced through time to relate concepts of mobility, infrastructures performance and urban and regional planning, contributed to the production of cities economical and environmentally unsustainable.
Regional planning should be seen as an opportunity for local governments and transit agencies to work together and coordinate mobility with local investments in infrastructure, overseeing a future where high quality living and working environments co-exist.
This session will present best practice, highlighting examples of cooperation between professionals, government and state agencies.

Abstracts should discuss different approaches for landscape planning as well as offer an international exchange experiences between practice and research.


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Dr. EMAD H. ISMAEEL
                  Dept. of Architecture E-mail:        emadhanee@yahoo.com
                  University of Mosul
                  Mosul - Iraq
                  emadhanee@gmail.com
                  http://emadhani.blogspot.com/
Tel :           +964 (0)770 164 93 74
                 

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