Each month, KHC features one of the Council’s member organizations to highlight how these groups support horticulture in Kentucky. This month we are featuring the Kentucky chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) which has more than 15,000 members nationwide. ASLA Kentucky, the professional organization representing landscape architects across our state, was incorporated on June 16th, 1980 by Edmund Ely, Lyle Aten, and David Burkholder.
You may be wondering, what is landscape architecture? How does it relate to horticulture and our communities? Landscape architecture is the planning, design, and management of outdoor environments intended for use by people, plants, and animals. This includes parks and trails, playgrounds, campuses, plazas, nature preserves, and arboretums, all of which require extensive knowledge of and enthusiasm for plants of all kinds. Not only do landscape architects need to have in-depth knowledge of horticulture, but in order to create beautiful and functional spaces with the health and safety of communities and the environment in mind, they must have a working familiarity with interconnected concepts such as erosion control, flood water management, conservation, and public health, not to mention art and design.
Because the work of landscape architects is highly skilled with a direct public impact, the profession is regulated by requiring a license and continuing education to practice – much like teachers or doctors. In the recent past, state legislature bills in several states, including Kentucky, have attempted to remove these regulations, allowing individuals without specialized education and experience to practice landscape architecture. In the early 2000’s, ASLA Kentucky united landscape architects from all across the state to lobby and ultimately defend regulation of their profession. This protection of licensure, and in turn, communities and land, has become one of the great purposes of the association.
Members of ASLA Kentucky are graduates or students of ASLA-recognized landscape architecture programs. For professionals in the field, membership provides a community for resource sharing, professional development, and collective inspiration. Currently, The University of Kentucky has the only accredited landscape architecture program in the state. See more about the program at: http://ukla.ca.uky.edu/.
See some of the work of Kentucky-based landscape architects and learn more at https://www.aslakentucky.org.