(The Vision Statement is the long term aim of what the AILA wishes to be achieved for present and future generations)
Resilient, engaging and healthy urban, regional and rural environments, designed in balance with natural and cultural systems.
(The AILA's Mission Statement is what we aim to contribute in order to achieve the Vision)
To advance the profession of Landscape Architecture in the service of the public interest and to provide leadership in the creation and stewardship of sustainable cities and settlements.
About The AILA
The AILA is the peak national organisation representing and harnessing the collective interests of the Australian Landscape Architecture professions and oversees the professional recognition of Registered Landscape Architects.
The AILA is guided by the Australian Landscape Principles in its policy and strategic directions, advocacy and programs.
The AILA is the vehicle by which the Landscape Architecture profession is able to raise awareness, initiate and lead engagement with the wider community on issues of strategic importance to the natural and built environment.
The AILA provides leadership in the education, professional development and ethical behaviour of members and to influence decision making in response to the evolving knowledge, understanding and requirements of people, natural and built environments.
The Institute actively anticipates and develops a leading position on issues of concern relating to the design, planning, management and stewardship of the natural and built environment. It seeks to be comprehensively acknowledged in this role by allied professions, by political and community leaders and by the wider public.
The AILA places a priority on stewardship as the means of actively taking responsibility for and management of the landscape through master planning, design, recycling, conservation, regeneration, and restoration. Landscape includes those landscapes that are - urban and regional; rural and natural; modified and unmodified.
Achieving
effective and sustainable outcomes in the built and natural environment
requires an integrated response. The
public domain, in which the majority of landscape architects
operate, plays an increasingly important role as the venue for
social interaction,
celebration and human endeavour. Consequently it is essential
that the public domain incorporate places that are meaningful,
enjoyable, and
equitable for the people who use them.
Landscape
architects have a leading role to play in defining and implementing
such integrated solutions. To fulfil their leadership role, landscape
architects need to be not only creative in planning and design but also
effective in influencing policy, priorities, allocation of resources
and public perceptions and expectations. AILA provides the organisational
structure through which landscape architects in Australia can effectively
respond to these challenges.
In a Landscape Architecture context, design denotes the creative process of blending of the applied arts, science and other creative and aesthetic endeavours. Landscape architects, as designers, may originate and develop plans for sites or for the management of landscapes, or may design, develop and manage policy for urban and rural landscapes or land developments.
The design process requires landscape architects to be involved in and originate a complex range of tasks including consultations, research, collaboration, modelling, interactive adjustment, and re-design.
>> about Landscape Architecture
>> about Landscape Architecture in Australia
>> definitions of landscape australia
>> who does what?
The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects is a company (A.C.N. 008 531 851) registered with the Australian Securities Commission (ASIC) that covers its operation and protects its name and initials in each State.
The AILA is a non-profit professional institute formed to serve the mutual interests of its members and the wider profession throughout Australia.
The governance structure of the AILA is vested in the AILA National Board, which retains ultimate legal responsibility for the whole organisation (being the National Board, National Office, State Chapters and all national and state committees/panels/juries) and provides leadership by setting goals, budgets, policies and performance targets.
The organisation of the AILA is based on a federal system with the National Board and eight state/ territory Chapters.
The AILA State Chapter Executives are committees of the Board appointed as Officers of the Institute to assist the profession, the Institute and its members within the State.
The State Executives provide a forum and focus for the activities of members, carry out the work of the Institute at State level and promote the aims and objects of the Institute.
While the AILA’s National President is responsible for the integrity of the governance process and the functioning of the Board, the AILA's CEO is responsible, through being devolved the powers from the Board, for the management and operations of the Institute.
The National Office, located in Canberra, is responsible for coordinating the delivery of membership services, implementation of National Board decisions and collaboration with the State Executives that serve AILA members at a local level.
Services include advocacy, education, continuing professional development, communications, and environment and community liaison.
Key programs are delivered by the AILA national and state web sites, Landmark (the National Board’s broadsheet) and state newsletters, national conferences, national and state awards and regular electronic communications.
The AILA advocates the interests of its members internationally through membership of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA).
>> Company Constitution | Governance Structure | Governance Manual | Key Statements | Strategic Plan
The objects of the Institute as defined under the Company Constitution are:
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To advance the study of landscape architecture and the related arts and sciences;
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To promote and encourage the development of urban and rural areas on sound principles of landscape design;
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To bring matters affecting landscape architecture to the notice of government, municipal and other authorities, public bodies and associations and their officials, in all parts of Australia and elsewhere;
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To raise the character and status and to safeguard and advance the interests of the profession of landscape architecture;
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To increase the confidence of the community in the employment of recognised landscape architects by admitting to the Institute only persons who have an adequate knowledge of both the theory and practice of landscape architecture;
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To improve the general and technical knowledge of persons engaged or intending to engage in the profession of landscape architecture, and for such purposes, to test by examination or other means the competence of such persons, grant certificates and provide for the registration by the Institute of holders of such certificates;
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To cooperate with other institutions or associations or other bodies that have objects similar to those of this Institute;
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To afford means of adjusting professional differences and deciding all questions of ethics, usage or courtesy in connection with the profession;
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To promote good feeling and friendly discussions and debates among the members; and
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To offer, provide, sponsor or contribute towards any lecture, scholarship, prize or other award for any research, study, literary contribution or other effort, in connection with the objects of the Institute.
How it began
The AILA: 1966 - present
The
Institute had its beginnings at a meeting held during a national conference
of the Royal Australian Planning Institute in August 1963 whereby a
group of professionals held an informal meeting to discuss the need
for a new professional body to represent Australia's Landscape Architects.
In
1966, the agreement was reached to progress to formal status
with an
interim committee forming the first Australian Institute of landscape
Architects with Richard Clough being the Interim Chair. A
memorandum of understanding was established and Articles of
Association
written.
The
original subscribers were:
Malcolm Bunzli, George Williams, Ray Margules, Jean Verschuer, Professor
Lindsay Pryor, Bruce MacKenzie, David Steane, Harry Howard and Gavin
Walkley.
In
1967, this interim committee handed over to an elected Council
with Peter Spooner as
its first National President.
Landscape Architecture in Australia - 1997 article on influences
The
AILA Presidents till present - click here
Click
HERE to see
the 25 year review of the AILA
a career in landscape architecture?
and there's lots more on the site-map
