CONGRESUL MONDIAL IFLA, ELVETIA, 27-29 iunie 2011

Call for Sessions

"Scales of Nature" - From Urban Landscapes to Alpine Gardens
The World Congress of Landscape Architecture

Registration date
The deadline for organisation of sessions is 30 April 2010.
Kindly register by e-mail, attaching the required information to: session@ifla2011.com
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The annual IFLA World Congress is a professional congress to be held in Zurich that is expected to be attended by more than 500 professionals and over 100 students from the fields of Landscape Architecture, Landscape Planning and associated professions and research from throughout the world to debate and discuss current topics and exchange experiences. There will also be a full supporting programme, including excursions etc., both before and after the Congress.
You are offered the opportunity to organise and present a series of lectures or a session during the Congress. The abstracts of your sessions will be published in the Congress' Proceedings. In order to guarantee a high quality of sessions, all abstracts will be subject to a review process. All of the abstracts accepted by the Programme Committee will subsequently be published in the Congress' Proceedings, providing at least one author of the abstract is registered for the conference and has paid the attendance fees.

What precisely is a session?
As is usual with large conferences, series of lectures and talks (so-called sessions) are offered at the same time in order to be able to offer as comprehensive a breath of topics as possible. The sessions will be on a smaller scale and will be more in the style of workshops. There will generally be five specialist talks (abstracts), each lasting around 15 minutes, in a single session. A session would normally be structured as follows: the presenter - you - would introduce the session and be on hand throughout the talks until the discussion at the end of the session with all participants. Following the introduction, short presentations will be given by the speakers on the abstracts previously submitted by you on the theme of the session. There will be a total of 100 minutes available for your session, including the introduction and discussion.

"Scales of Nature - From Urban Landscapes to Alpine Gardens"
Based on our understanding today, landscapes are characterised by the multifaceted interaction of different layers. On the one hand ancient, natural landscapes are coming under pressure. Owing to our changing recreational and leisure needs, they are being reshaped, usurped and changing in either a subtle or even volatile transformation process. On the other hand, artificial areas of nature are being created by humans in urban environments, permeated by different typologies, criteria and gradations. The IFLA World Congress in Zurich is devoted to the fluctuating range of topics between artificial and grown nature and to the sustainable development of the landscape for a more enhanced quality of life.

Each day of the Congress is devoted to a different spatial focal area. While the first day is all about urban landscapes, the second day of the Congress deals with the peri-urban phenomenon in urban agglomerations and the third day concerns specific issues relating to rural land and its changes. Within these three day-long themes, attendees of the Congress can choose their preferred topics from the sessions on offer.

Aim of the Congress
The IFLA World Congress in Zurich aims to compare the differing views on these focal areas, enable a dialogue between the top-level experts from throughout the world and formulate the needs of the diverse stakeholders. At the forefront will be the debate on the general concept of landscape that will encompass all facets of the environment and the interaction between man, nature and the landscape. The Programme Committee is hoping in particular for an inspiring exchange between landscape architects currently working, research, planning and design.

Target audience
All practising landscape architects, students and people working in landscape architecture, landscape development, land-use planning, urban planning, architecture, construction, forestry and agricultural engineering, land art, Ministries and Offices for the Environment and Urban Development, Departments for Parks, Gardens and Open Spaces, the media and interested members of the public.

The five themes
You are invited to organise sessions on the following themes. Listed below are some examples to assist you although this is by no means a conclusive list:
1. Spatial design
• Temporary acquisition of areas on the peri-urban fringes - case studies and processes for open spaces.
• Dealing with impact on public open spaces - short-term reactions and long-term strategies.
• How will the parks of the future look like?

2. Interaction, collaboration, participation
• Cooperation processes in the design of green spaces - involvement of people who use the spaces.
• Guerrilla gardening - models and experience from successful interventions.
• Community Development.

3. Sustainable development
• Alpine man-made landscapes - development of tourism vs. biodiversity?
• Landscape in the focus of energy generation - contributions on CO2 reduction.
• "Ecological urban consolidation".

4. Management and planning
• Disappearing and exploding cities - opportunities and risks in transformation processes from the view point of open space planning.
• Hybrid areas - interface between public and private user requirements.
• Economic approaches of "Green space management".
• "Green Cycles".

5. Culture and identity
• Learning from history - forms of archiving, working with and using the knowledge gleaned from horticultural sources.
• Artistic and landscape architectural intervention as a precursor to the perception of landscapes.
• Landscape and identity.
• The return of topography - designing with the terrain.

It is possible, and also desirable, to combine themes among themselves.

Congress Language
The official language of the conference is English. No interpreting will be offered.

How to organise and run a session
We would require from you, over and above the topic of the session, an outline of its content and specific proposals on speakers and their abstracts (maximum 7000 characters including spaces). Kindly attach to your application a CV or a reference list, or alternatively the address of your website.

Procedure
Your application will be examined by the Programme Committee of the IFLA World Congress 2011 once the registration deadline has passed. You will be informed of their decision and the ongoing procedure by e-mail by 2nd July 2010 at the latest.

Contact address
IFLA World Congress
Beatenplatz 2
CH-8001 Zürich
Switzerland

Contact person
Mr. Hayal Oezkan
session@ifla2011.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Phone: +41 44 412 24 87
Fax: +41 44 212 09 38