Chris Tidswell, AILA Director and Company Secretary

Dear AILA Members,

The AILA national board has had our first few Board Meetings since the new group was formed and positions decided. Following the last meeting the board met with state chapter presidents and have aligned ourselves with different national working groups to enable conversations and ensure collaboration across AILA. 

Now that we’re well and truly up and running, the national board is tackling key strategic priorities for the organization. Below is a short summary of a few of these items: 

Strategic Plan 
At the center of AILA is the Strategic Plan. As you are aware, the national board is going through steps with AILA’s CEO Ben Stockwin to review the strategic objectives and finalize AILA’s Vision and Mission. The revised Strategic Plan is schedule to be released January 2021 with an updated AILA operational plan to follow. 

Formal Registration and Legal Recognition
Shaun Walsh, previous AILA President, before he stepped down as president passed on a discussion paper that summarized the pathway to Formal Registration and Legal Recognition of Landscape Architects and as ked the question - Do We Really Want it? The current board is looking to progress the great work that has been done and ensure that the recommendations are considered, with next steps taken. 

IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architecture)
Claire Martin AILA President continues to contribute on the IFLA Climate Change Working group. The board always looks for news ways to partner with IFLA and our key focus is on joint advocacy opportunities for landscape architecture globally. 

ASBEC (Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council)
The recent ASBEC Annual General Meeting was attend by myself and Ben Stockwin. Ben presented the Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) Framework - design, classification, implementation, valuation and maintenance. Developing a consistent methodology for UGI that can be applied across Australia is vital as significant investments are made now to build more climate-resilient communities, towns and cities for tomorrow. 

Finally, it is also worth mentioning that AILA has supported the Climate Change Bill - The Bill would legislate Net Zero by 2050 and provide a clear bipartisan approach for addressing climate change impacts. 

Warm regards

AILA Director and Company Secretary 
Chris Tidswell