Landscape architects and other stakeholders have been challenged to build smart, healthy and sustainable cities where people can integrate, communicate and move freely.
The call came from Sweden’s Ambassador to Kenya Caroline Vicini during the first day of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) World Congress in Nairobi.
“Landscape architecture plays an important role in shaping sustainable development”, said the diplomat. She lauded the efforts made by the built environment professionals of both Sweden and Kenya to learn from each other and discuss climate change.
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, by 2015, most of Africa’s population living in urban areas rose from 27 percent in 1950 to 40 percent in 2015. The population is projected to rise by 60 percent in 2050. Consequently, this worsens the climate change crisis.
AAK President Florence Nyole stressed on the significance of cooperation within the built environment as it enabled the professionals to reach shared environmental goals that rest on a foundation of social sustainability.
“This world congress will be an opportunity to promote learning and collaboration among built environment professions to find solutions to the major global challenges. The city of Nairobi relates very closely to the congress theme, with rapid urbanization, dealing with climate change, and adequate housing as priority issues,” she said.
The theme of this year’s IFLA Congress is “EMERGENT INTERACTION” which aims at strengthening the landscape architecture in relation to Agenda 2030 through exploring new forms of collective problem-solving, borderless strategies and possible networks of ideas and cooperation while keeping the issues of climate change, social inequality and biodiversity-loss at the forefront.
