My name is Ben Espie and I have worked in the field of landscape planning based in Queenstown for the past 17 years. I spent 5 years working for the Queenstown Lakes District Council before establishing vivian+espie, a multi-disciplinary consultancy covering landscape planning, resource management and urban design.

Over those years, I have been closely involved with the Southern Branch of the NZILA, being its Chairperson for nine years.   

My work has been directly connected with the processes of the Resource Management Act, particularly with advising on the landscape related provisions of the District and Regional Plans of the lower South Island. In broad terms, my work has involved assisting with the formulation of the landscape related provisions of various District Plans and with advising on the visual amenity and landscape character effects of activities ranging from large scale infrastructural projects, through re-zonings and large residential or tourism developments, to individual dwellings or activities in sensitive locations.   

Despite my work sometimes straying into the realms of planning or resource management, I always maintain that landscape planning work is still primarily design based; it draws on the key competencies of our profession. Landscape planning, or any spatial planning, is simply design at a very large scale; the scale of an entire district. At a fundamental level, the same basic design considerations apply to this district-scale work as to site-scale design; how to spatially arrange and delimit the required elements in order to be functional and to accord with the inherent characteristics and beauty of the landscape rather than to compete with or dominate them. Design decisions made at this district or regional scale can have very far-reaching consequences; potentially setting the patterns that will characterise our landscapes for generations to come.

I sometimes suspect that the younger generation of landscape architects in New Zealand are unconvinced of how their skills relate to the world of resource management; seeing it as the domain of old men in suits. I consider it vital that this generation of landscape architects have input into large scale planning decisions. The same creativity and exuberance that these designers bring to a site-scale design is needed at a district, regional and national scale. Your country needs you!