Grant Award View - GA268388
Landscape Architects as Change Makers
RMIT University and The University of Melbourne will partner with the Japanese Landscape Architect Union (JLAU) to deliver a bilateral exhibition to be held in Melbourne and Tokyo between April and June 2023.
This exhibition investigates the strategies used by Japanese and Australian landscape architects to implement innovative design outcomes that respond to the boom-bust economic conditions, cultural specificity of urbanism and climatic challenges in their region. Focusing on award winning designers, expanded by contributions from a new generation of designers, the exhibition mixes multi-media and print to present design voices, design drawings, immersive footage of designs and community responses.
A designer exchange will accompany the exhibition, bringing two Japanese designers to Melbourne and two Australian designers to Tokyo. The exhibition and floor talks will promote a cross-cultural and inter-generational dialogue exploring how designers influence government, developers, and the community to achieve positive contributions to environmental, economic, and cultural futures.
By revealing the intricacies of design processes, this project develops deeper understandings of how Japanese and Australian landscape architects act as change agents. With mounting global pessimism towards climate change and social inequities, this project presents a positive message, highlighting multiple ways that individual designers can make a difference.