Bund Deutscher Landschaftsarchitekten bdla

Association of German Landscape Architects bdla.

The Association of German Landscape Architects was founded in 1913 in Frankfurt/Main under the name of the Association of German Garden Architects and changed its name in 1972.

It has around 1300 members, among them approximately 800 landscape architects in free practice. The association represents the interests of freelance members alongside those landscape architects who work as salaried employees or civil servants and those trainee landscape architects studying in education.

Landscape design expresses the spirit of the time; it is a cultural language and involves both the conservation and reinterpretation of landscapes. Landscape architects combine ecological awareness and expertise with planning competence; they assess and prove the feasibility of plans and realize projects. They take creative responsibility for our natural reserves and for the interplay of the environment with our social and built environment.

Landscape architects in the BDLA represent the interests of members in various regional, national and international bodies. The BDLA also closely follows the regional and federal legislative processes with regard to planning law, building law and environmental law. In doing so, the BDLA performs an important communal task for a small professional group. You can find current statements concerning political and legislative developments on our website at www.bdla.de.

The BDLA is in favour of the amendment of the official scale of fees and charges for our profession and for strengthening competition, and the association pursues these goals in dialogue with the appropriate legislative bodies. It believes that quality in planning, constructing and designing landscapes can only be secured and improved by introducing expert and a system of fair and performance-based remuneration. The BDLA believes in improving further education and training and supports contact between universities and professionals. The association analyzes and adapts to developments in this sphere and is a member of the body for the accreditation of new study programmes in architecture and planning. The BDLA is also active in training and offers a wide range of seminars, conferences and expert forums to keep members informed about state-of-the-art developments in our profession.

External and internal public relations form a central part of our activities. The BDLA publishes a quarterly members' magazine "Landschaftsarchitekten" and an annual handbook for landscape architects. Since 1993 the German Prize for Landscape Architecture has been awarded biannually for exemplary projects in our field; and the BDLA has published the results of the competition since 2001 (www.deutscher-landschaftsarchitektur-preis.de) . Our most recent product is the website www.landschaftsarchitektur-heute.de offering more than 1.300 projects of contemporary landscape architecture.

The BDLA is active in the European Foundation for Landscape Architecture IFLA Europe (http://iflaeurope.eu/) and the International Federation of Landscape Architects IFLA (www.iflaworld.com).