1.1 Bases teóricas
1.2.7 La formación de los líderes directivos
England to set up his own landscape practice in 1989. An interest in
cultural landscapes led him to put together ‘a 100-year blueprint’ for the
Thames, a proposal to provide public access along the River Thames from
Hampton to Kew that would give added value to the river’s landscape
as a cultural entity, a distinct area with historic and aesthetic value. This
he describes as an ‘Arcadian landscape… of palaces, villas, and parks’
interspersed with ‘workmanlike sections of boat yards’.
The choice of the Thames between Hampton and Kew was based on its role as what Wilkie calls ‘the cradle of the English Landscape Movement’, particularly in the views from Richmond Hill (see opposite). There is also a range of signifi cant sites along this part of the river: the botanic gardens at Kew, the expansive Richmond and Bushey Parks, the palaces of Richmond and Hampton Court, along with historic buildings at Syon Park, Marble Hill Park, Ham House and other important buildings such as Garrick‘s Villa at Hampton and Pope’s Strawberry Hill.
The proposal was fi rst presented as an exhibition, Thames Connections, for the Royal Fine Art Commission in 1991. This led to a commission by another central government agency, the Countryside Commission (now Natural England), which in turn gave rise to the Thames Landscape Strategy, developed in 1991–94 and covering nearly 20km of riverside from Hampton to Kew, and focusing particularly on historic views, avenues and vistas. Published in 1994 it was adopted by the Secretary of State for the Environment, the central government minister, as a framework for planning policies along the Thames. Indeed it has been extended eastwards through London to the mouth of the River Thames. It is described as a ‘100-year vision’ (which is also really a landscape architect’s minimum timeframe). It also
works with the Thames Waterways Plan and the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Network. The work has continued over three decades and the Thames Landscape Strategy is a ‘live planning forum’ supported by fi ve local councils, and at a national level.
Wilkie describes the Thames as an ‘extraordinary landscape’ and he began to plot views. Sometimes the work is very simple, very soft and gentle such as bringing willow edges to the margins and fi ghting Japanese knotweed, sometimes interventions such as mile-long avenues, sometimes stopping planning permission for new buildings, sometimes encouraging new development and realizing the ‘rhythm of built and unbuilt’. This is also about ‘taking the environment rather seriously as a fl ood alleviation corridor’.
It has also led to further projects in the twenty-fi rst century, including the Pastoral Arcadia aimed at conserving, interpreting and restoring the views from Richmond Hill and Floodscape in Richmond, which is working to restore the ancient fl ood meadows by the Thames. As Kim Wilkie advises, ‘the accessibility of the study and the support and continued involvement of the local community means that the landscape character for once is the basis for planning decisions and funding investment’.
A. Bird’s-eye analysis of the landscape character on the Isleworth stretch of the river, with vistas (in red) from the King’s Observatory and along the river.
B. Pastoral Arcadia aims to conserve and enhance the views from Richmond Hill. C. The pattern of the landscape along and
centred on the Thames, so often an administrative divide, Kim Wilkie’s study sees it as cultural whole, as he says ‘Only by trying to understand how these elements interact with the memory or myths of past settlement, can one begin to tease out Pope’s genius loci – the spirit of the place.’i D&E. Before-and-after view of walks across
Richmond Hill. Sometimes the changes are small: simplifying, rustifying and removing municipal clutter.
E D C
B A
There are two models for establishment of the profession found internationally: state registration or licensure (US usage) and no state registration, no protection of title, but recognized and accepted by government and other professions. Title protection restricts the right to use the term ‘Landscape Architect’ to state-registered landscape architects.
In the US, state licensure is found in 49 states of the Union, and is required in order to be able to practise in those states. There are two forms of state licensure: in the majority of the states the act is a Practice Act which prohibits unlicensed people from calling themselves landscape architects or from practising the profession. In a minority – the exceptions are Massachusetts, Maine and Illinois – there is a Title Act whereby unlicensed individuals may not use the title of landscape architect but may still do the work. The Practice Act is the stronger protecton. Licensure requires education and also work experience and the passing of the Landscape Architect Registration Examination (L.A.R.E.), based on the Council of Landscape Architectural Registration Board’s guidelines.
In several European countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and nominally in Italy) there is also state registration. In most, there is a national register based purely on education. In Germany the system is based at the Länder (federal state) level via registration with the Architektenkammer or chamber of architects. In Hungary there is also a work experience requirement. The ‘nominal’ status in Italy is because of an invidious position in that a Master’s degree is required to become a member of the Consiglio
Nazionale degli Architetti, Pianifi catori, Paesaggisti e Conservatori (CNAPPC) and
yet a full undergraduate course leading to Master’s-level education in landscape architecture was only introduced in the 1990s. In consequence many members of the national association of
landscape architects, the Associazione
Italiana di Architettura del Paesaggio
(AIAPP), cannot register with the national
Consiglio – however, graduates of Master’s
programmes in architecture can.
Elsewhere, in Hong Kong there is a Landscape Architects Registration Board, set up by the Hong Kong Landscape Architects Registration Ordinance of 1997 for the Special Administrative Zone of Hong Kong (http://www.larb.com.hk/First_Page. htm) and in South Africa professional membership is with the South African Council for the Landscape Architectural Profession (www.saclap.org.za).
The other model may be termed the Scandinavian or North-west European one, where there is no state register but the profession is well established. There are landscape architects represented in government commissions and on advisory boards. This is the position in Scandinavia, the UK, some countries in Central Europe and Australia and New Zealand. Some would argue that in the UK the Royal Charter protects the title ‘Chartered Landscape Architect’, but this is a technicality, and you don’t have to be a member of the Landscape Institute to practise as a landscape architect and call yourself a landscape architect: in the UK there is no protection of the title ‘landscape architect’.
In a few countries the title ‘landscape architect’ cannot be used at all because of legislation protecting the status of architects and therefore the use of that word. As a result, landscape architects in Spain may not call themselves arquitecto
paesajista (though the term is commonly
used in South America); instead they call themselves paesajistas. In France there is a parallel situation: landscape architects call themselves paysagistes and are not allowed to use the title architecte paysagiste as their colleagues in Francophone Canada, Switzerland and Belgium do. However, in France the profession of paysagiste is otherwise well established.