01 — The Perth is a Wetland project by Daniel Jan Martin presented a journey of discovery of Perth’s underlying ecology through a projected, moving, sounding exhibition.
Image: Daniel Jan Martin.
Steve Mintern is a founding director of the charitable design and research practice Office. His work focuses on how public space can be designed to create more equitable spaces for both communities and ecologies and how the way we practice effects these outcomes.
02 — Retain Repair Reinvest proposal for Barak Beacon public housing estate by Office.
Image: Office.Ella Gauci-Seddon – What, for you, are two key issues for the next decade of landscape architecture practice?
Steve Mintern – The growing inequality within our cities and how the privatisation of space is going to play out with an increasingly unpredictable climate.
Bonnie Gordon – Resisting the pressures of neoliberal capitalism in our profession and broader society. Also reckoning with the role of our industry in environmental and climate degradation. I see these things as connected.
Taneile Nixon – Bringing our clients and government agencies along with us – stressing to them the importance and desperate need for climate resilience. Secondly, the future shortage of landscape architects. We have a really low uptake of students in Queensland. I see a lack of hands in the workforce as a huge struggle.
Owen Cafe – As landscape architects, we need to be more cognisant of our role in gentrification. We need to manage our role in creating communities and shaping environments in a way that incorporates local community voices and creates agency. First Nations communities in particular are under increasing pressure to be at the centre of developing solutions for things like climate change, and are also often the first to experience its impacts.
The privatisation of our world is also an issue. With councils and the like leaning on privatised public space, our landscapes are going to reflect the corporate agenda more than what’s good for the community. As landscape architects, we have played a big role