From September 28th to 30th, 2021, the World Congress of Building Greening 2021 will take place in Berlin. The theme will be “Meet the World of Building Greening in Berlin!”. 100 speakers, five series of lectures and a contribution by the world-renowned facade greener Patrick Blanc will attract interested people from all over the world to the German capital.
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Climate change, adaptation strategies, expectations for sustainable construction, rainwater management, preserving biological diversity, funding opportunities, cost-benefit considerations – all these issues will be addressed at the World Congress of Building Greening 2021 in Berlin. From 16 to 18 June, 100 speakers, 40 exhibitors and 20 cooperation partners will come together to impart knowledge on building greening, showcase best practice examples and network.
Sustainability, policy and practical examples
These are the main topics:
- Urban strategies (urban dialogue, subsidies, water and climate sensitive urban development, urban resilience and future city)
- Sustainability (Ecological overall concepts, sustainable urban development and economic efficiency analysis)
- Health (climate adaptation strategies, quality of life, binding of particulate matter and nitrogen oxide)
- Biodiversity (biological diversity, plant selection, species and insect protection)
- Market (data, potential analysis and green roof index)
- Politics (How does green buildings move Germany, Europe and the world)
- Rainwater management (blue-green infrastructure, flood prevention and retention roofs)
- Architectural and practical examples (best practice, industrial and residential construction, high-rise greenery, urban farming)
- Technology (basics, high-tech solutions, innovations and monitoring)
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Programme, location, registration
Organizer of the congress is the Bundesverband GebäudeGrün e.V. (BuGG), flanked by the world and European associations (WGIN and EFB) and the two partner associations from Austria (VfB) and Switzerland (SFG). The exclusive congress partner of the World Congress of Building Greening 2021 is Nürnberg Messe.
The patrons are German Federal Minister Horst Seehofer (Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Construction and Homeland), German Federal Minister Svenja Schulze (Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety) and German Senator Katrin Lompscher (Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing). The Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing also provides support in the technical and organisational preparation. The World Congress is also supported by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR).
Details of the event programme, the venue and registration options can be found here.
This year’s ASLA Conference examined the US identity in turbulent times. A congress report
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The expression “the elephant in the room” is delightfully ambiguous. On the one hand, it refers to something important that everybody knows about, yet nobody addresses explicitly. On the other hand, however, it implies a huge, blundering something that can break down existing structures without being particularly sensitive about it. In terms of this ambiguity, the current US president Trump represented precisely that elephant at this year’s annual conference of the ASLA, the American Society of Landscape Architects, in San Diego. Although not much was explicitly said about the Donald and his, at times, elephantine politics, their consequences for present day America, however, played an implicit role all the time.
This certainly applied most directly to the numerous panels and talks on the consequences of climate change. The environmental politician and researcher Gina McCarthy laid the atmospheric foundation for this as it were. In her rhetorically brilliant talk, she clarified that the Obama government launched many specific legislative initiatives. Not all of these have been revised so far – and it is hardly possible for all of them to be revoked either. “The train is running”, was her ultimately optimistic message. The audience acknowledged the speech with standing ovations, while McCarthy’s preacher-like style required some getting used to for a fact-orientated European.
It’s a matter of spatial, but also historical integrity
Events such as the ASLA Conference almost inevitably transmit a kind of mitigated, fundamental ecological optimism, as they are dealing with concrete improvement steps. One field session, for instance, presented the regeneration of the “San Diego River” ecosystem. Other panels introduced solutions for areas in the hot and dry southwest of the USA, which are becoming partly uninhabitable due to global warming, as well as approaches for better air through landscape architecture. The impression: The field of landscape architecture recognises and assumes its responsibility even though the political climate may be rough.
This socio-political climate however also played another role. Many discussions addressed the identity-forming and negotiating role of spatial planning. The United States of America (and others) certainly appear to be a country in search of its “identity”. A kind of existential uncertainty prevails as far as society as a whole is concerned. This means that it is possible for the space in which we live to assume an orientation-providing function – for entire societies, for smaller cultural entities, but also for individuals and their direct social environment. Highly interesting in this context was a panel on US-American postwar sites.
The head of the “Parks Conservancy” of Pittsburgh presented the sensitive restructuring of the Mellow Square in Pittsburgh. The landscape architect Ken Smith, who is very well known in the USA, presented three different new designs from New York and San Francisco, including the exterior space in front of Mies van der Rohe’s iconic Seagram Building in Manhattan. All of the presented projects involving outdoor spaces showed that these are a negotiation of the US-American collective memory. Post-war modernism shaped the US culture – and accordingly needs to be treated with care. According to Charles Birnbaum, head of the Cultural Landscape Foundation, it’s a matter of spatial, but also historical integrity.
The elephant “La Frontera”
Of course, the question here is, who assigns integrity or who does it apply to? The idea of society as a homogenous entity is falling apart at the moment, not just in the USA. Accordingly, different perspectives need to be brought together in landscape planning or at least listened to. Permitting heterogeneity was quasi the main subject of many panels. This would allow for the emergence of “Landscapes with an edge”, according to the tenor of a discussion on the significance of subculture in planning. The plea of planner and podcaster Michael Todoran (who runs the podcast “LArchitect”) was to allow for provocation and create space for subversion. The question here being where subculture and provocation end, and where mere commercialisation begins. It could for instance be discussed whether eScooters, which also fill the streets in the USA, can be considered a subculture, as was suggested in the panel.
Nevertheless – the cultural sensitivity of this year’s ASLA Conference was high. One culturally charged topic, however, which would have been obvious, given that the event was held in San Diego, was unfortunately largely left out: Mexico and the planning challenge of the border. While there was a (quickly booked up) field trip to Tijuana, the border almost never came up in the content considered by the panels. And that despite the new ASLA president Wendy Miller stating in an interview with Garten + Landschaft that the planners are certainly aware of the planning dimensions of “La Frontera” in mind (you can read the full interview at www.topos-magazine.com). But perhaps this border, too, represents some kind of elephant in the room in the thinking space of US culture. It’s there, it’s huge, but it gets blanked out tenaciously.
The 55th IFLA World Congress returns to Singapore. For the second time, the “City in a Garden” provides a platform for experts, government agencies and academics at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands from July 18 to 21, 2018 to discuss the reciprocity of urban and natural environment.
The congress, which is considered the biggest and most important in its field, is organized by the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) and the Singapore Institute of Landscape Architects (SILA).
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This year, visitors of the IFLA World Congress explore and discuss the topics of the Biophilic City, Smart Nation and Future Resilience. The congress is to present greening strategies for fast-growing cities and the implementation of potential technologies to give an insight into designing processes and capacities to adapt to ever-changing environmental conditions.
Participants can look forward to getting to know a wide-ranging community of government agencies, business leaders, industry representatives, academics and opinion leaders to review possible strategic innovations to adapt to the changing environment.
Congress Topics
Biophilic City:
This panel is to examine the practice of landscape architecture in the context of fast-growing cities. A biophilic city puts nature with its design, planning and organization first. Discussions will be held on how modern landscape architecture should look like to take a leading role in our urban and natural surroundings of a biophilic city.
Smart Nation:
Landscape architecture is affected by an increasingly digitized society. Thanks to remote sensors and probes, we can expand the measuring and evaluation of our environment. Landscape architecture is to take its part in an interdisciplinary approach and provide new, practical concepts to meet the manifold challenges of climate change and urbanization.
Future Resilience:
Which role should landscape architecture take to improve critical infrastructure systems in the city? How can we make sure those systems remain operational and resilient despite growing threats from climate change? What can landscape architects design with limited resources?
Singapore As The Host City
Singapore has gone great lengths to make nature the heart of all urban development. The city state aims to refine its infrastructure and to accommodate its growing population – while retaining its green at the same time. Singapore is an example for an ideal biophilic city.
Held in conjunction with Singapore Garden Festival 2018 which will take place from July 21 to August 3, National Parks Board is the Organising Partner of IFLA World Congress 2018.
Globally, agglomerations are attractive to the population in rural areas and are therefore constantly growing. Also in Europe, there has been an increase in migratory movements from the countryside to the city, so city planning is facing new challenges. On 16th of May, the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences is organizing a conference about the subject. Under the title “Europe’s Agglomerations – Challenges to Planning and Building”, experts and participants exchange views on the trend.
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Opportunities and limitations of urban development
The aim of the conference is to identify the opportunities and limitations of urban development. For this purpose, current research results and solutions are to be discussed and evaluated. To deal with the complex subject matter, the congress deals with building-related, legal and economic aspects as well as social and cultural developments. The broad topic area is divided into two forums, in which the participants can inform themselves and exchange information through speeches and discussions. While Forum I deals with business, law and infrastructure, Forum II concerns with gentrification, dependency on the car and the digitalisation of planning data. Afterwards, the challenges of growth in terms of their ecological and social aspects are discussed in a joint forum.
Participation and Recognition
Participation fee: 90 € | Student price: 30 €
More information can be found here.
