Tēnā koutou ki te whanau,

Nga mihi o te ra. 

The NZILA Streetscape Speaker Series 2019 Catherine Mosbach lectures might seem like they were a long time ago now, but we hosted Catherine less than a month ago in late July and early August.  Almost 500 people from NZILA and the general public packed out lectures in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.  Thanks again to Streetscape for your generous sponsorship and to all of the NZILA members and Branches that were involved in hosting the speaker series.  The inaugural speaker series was very successful in all respects and we are hoping to make it an annual event on our calendar. 

The Environmental Defence Society (EDS) held their national conference in Auckland on
14 and 15 August.   The subject of the conference was THROUGH NEW EYES: Rethinking Landscape in Aotearoa. The conference featured a number of presentations from NZILA members as well as political updates from the Minister of Conservation, the Minister for the Environment and a wrap up from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.  The presentations were recorded and are now available on the EDS website here. It was excellent to see such a big turnout of NZILA members presenting and also supporting the EDS Conference.  It was a very interesting two days for me. 

You might recall from my July update that we lodged a submission on behalf of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Tuia Pito Ora on the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon Amendment) Bill 2019.  You can read the submission here.  The Select Committee is hearing submissions on the bill this week in Wellington and I am heading down to present the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Tuia Pito Ora submission at 4:30pm on Friday.   
  
The 2019 NZILA Firth Conference with theme DISRUPTION, is shaping up well, with Kristina Hill, Bjorn Low, Antwi Akom and Ng Sek San joining the previously confirmed Julie Bargmann in our impressive list of international speakers. 

The Lincoln University School of Landscape Architecture 50 Year celebrations is also gaining momentum.  I’m looking forward to the alumni celebrations on 6 November at Lincoln. 

Best of luck to all of those that have entered the Resene New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architecture Awards 2019 this year.  We are getting closer to the Awards Dinner on
8 November to mark the end of the Conference.

Lastly, one of the most important cultural landscapes in Tāmaki Makaurau – the Ihumātao peninsula has been in the news over the last few months.  The issues that are being discussed at Ihumātao highlight the tension between the identification and protection of our important cultural landscapes and the provision of housing in a city that is rapidly expanding its’ boundaries. Landscape architects have had an important part to play on the Ihumātao peninsula in the past and will continue to into the future. 

As always, if you have anything you want to share with me, then please drop me a line,  

Mā te wā,

Brad