One of the speakers at the 2023 NZILA Firth Conference, Kotchakorn Voraakhom, says she is impressed with how the landscape architecture profession here in Aotearoa is continuing to define and redefine itself. 

Kotchakorn is a Thai landscape architect and the chief executive officer of Porous City Network as well the the chair of the International Federation of Landscape Architects’ (IFLA) Climate Working Group. 

She presented on Landprocess: The Global and Local Climate Adaptation Design and was a highlight for many of the delegates at the conference. 

Reflecting at the end of the event she said she is intrigued by New Zealand, its land and our relationship with it.

“I just feel like there's kind of tremendous energy to see that relationship between the land and its people and how it's carried through the history.”  

Kotchakorn acknowledged the pain caused by colonisation but also says she is impressed with how New Zealand landscape architects respect indigenous knowledge. She believes the international landscape architecture community has a great deal to learn from New Zealand. 

“I hope that the knowledge I learn by being here can spread to other parts of the world and through the profession”

You can see more from Kotchakorn Voraakhom in the video below.