Boulevard Gardening Roundtable – A new paradigm or an unkempt mess?

For this webinar, we at the OALA CEC are trying something different that we have not tried before – a roundtable discussion on boulevard gardens. Not just the details of how to implement and why, but more importantly, how boulevard gardens can be viewed as a microcosm in the evolution of landscape architecture: part education, part advocacy, and part soul searching.

We are in a poly crisis – it is a luxury to design and play in the old paradigm of only designing space. We now have a responsibility to think beyond just people – in a landscape, there is much more than just us humans. We are embedded in relationships with everything in the world. We, as landscape architects, need to learn more about plants and their interconnectedness.

Using boulevard gardens as an example, the panelists will explore such bigger picture questions as:

• How can we be part of a new paradigm – plant relationships – thinking beyond just capacity and choice from a traditional nursery catalogue based only on aesthetics?
• How do we stop pretending that things like climate change, loss of biodiversity and habitat is not dire and take the reins to address the malaise through ecological restoration and making a difference even in small spaces?
• How do we dispel the myth that boulevards are wasted spaces that are not programmed, but that most landscapes can bring a lot of benefit to both people and the ecosystem and can help connect fragmented landscapes by repairing damaged places, especially tough urban spaces?

Join well-known ecological restoration experts and advocates Lorraine Johnson and Heather Schibli as they share their thoughts in what will be a passionate discussion moderated by the OALA CEC’s Werner Schwar.

Members participating in the webinar are welcome to submit discussion questions on the topic in advance for possible inclusion in the roundtable discussion.