Advocacy pays dividends. ASLA members in Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Washington dedicated themselves to formally celebrating landscape architecture’s history and importance. As a result, these states have recently had governors declare April to be Landscape Architecture Month and mayors declare April 26 to be Frederick Law Olmsted Day.
These proclamations help to educate the public on landscape architecture’s technical substance and public significance. They also serve as a reminder of the impact that design choices invariably have on community, opportunity, resilience, and equity. Increasing public awareness can lead to increased project opportunities for licensed practitioners.
Beyond raising public awareness, these proclamations help to educate policy makers and lay the foundation for future legislative opportunities at the local, state, and federal levels that advance the profession. These proclamations can be used to bolster future policy advocacy efforts and help to integrate the profession into policies aimed at biodiversity, transportation, water and stormwater management, economic revitalization, and climate resilience. Additionally, they offer the opportunity to highlight that landscape architecture is a licensed design profession.
The work is not done, however. The advocacy success in these ten states demonstrates that proclamations are within reach for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. ASLA applauds its Chapters for their advocacy efforts thus far and looks forward to supporting all members in pursuit of additional proclamations.
For further information, please contact Bradley Rawls at brawls@asla.org.