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Dear BSLA community,
We, as a nation, are going through an extraordinary moment.
In the last two weeks, values at the foundation of our discipline have been challenged and the goals that we pursue in our daily practice have been under attack.
Since our origins as a profession, landscape architects have been committed to creating landscapes that recognize and improve environmental conditions, that enhance ecological and human health, that offer beauty and joy, that shape spaces for personal respite and community connection, and that are welcoming to all. In 1870, in Boston, Frederick Law Olmsted spoke of these principles – before he designed the Emerald Necklace and before setting up the first professional landscape architecture office in the United States here, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Environmental stewardship, inclusion and equity and caring for the greater good have grounded landscape architecture since our professional origins.
This is not changing.
BSLA’s commitment to climate leadership is not changing.
The work of landscape architects has an enormous role to play in helping individuals and communities mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. From backyard to school yard to watershed, we will continue to work toward a better tomorrow, creating landscapes that address heat, drought, flooding, wildfire, biodiversity loss, and that capture carbon. BSLA remains committed to supporting, celebrating, and advancing climate action, together – locally, regionally, and globally.
BSLA’s commitment to justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion is not changing.
Landscape architects do not shy away from challenging histories and systemic discrimination. We work to amplify voices and to empower communities to shape spaces that celebrate who they are and how they live. We seek environmental justice and we believe landscapes can be spaces of healing, repair, and renewal.
A special note to our students and colleagues, our members and friends who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latino, and People of Color; to our International students and faculty and recent graduates; to Immigrants at every stage and place in your careers; to those who are LGBTQIA+, including Trans: We embrace you as you are, and we are grateful that you are in our community.
From the Berkshires to Bar Harbor, Portland to Provincetown, Amherst to Augusta to Cambridge and Boston, we are a community.
As we navigate these days of dramatic change, challenge, and risk, we will not step back and we will not stay silent. BSLA will continue to offer a network of support – an ecosystem of collaboration, learning, and shared growth.
Please stay in touch.
We stand together.
-- the Executive Committee of BSLA
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