The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) is organising Not In My Backyard: 2016 International Festival of Landscape Architecture in Canberra in October.

To take place over four days from 27 – 30 October 2016 in Canberra, the international festival will connect the public with landscape architects across multiple events developed by AILA and Festival Creative Director, Richard Weller (USA). The four-day program will include a Short Film Competition, Conference, National Landscape Architecture Awards and a host of public and industry tours, exhibitions, city activations, screenings and talks.

Landscape architects from across the Asia Pacific region will travel to Canberra for the International Federation of Landscape Architects’ (IFLA) Asia-Pacific Congress meeting, being held in Canberra at the beginning of the Festival. AILA won the rights to host the 2016 IFLA Asia-Pacific Regional Conference following a competitive bid process.

AILA’s National President Daniel Bennett describes the 2016 International Festival of Landscape Architecture in Canberra as an opportunity for all Asia-Pacific IFLA neighbours to develop and nurture collaborative and mutually beneficial relationships to advance landscape architecture in the centrally significant Asia-Pacific Region.

As the AILA celebrates its 50th year in 2016, the International Commission on Stratigraphy will formally announce the dawn of the Anthropocene: a new era in which the earth’s systems are determined by human activity.

The Not In My Backyard: 2016 Conference will aim to connect the major dynamics of the 21st century, global urbanisation and climate change with landscape architecture. The conference examines this proposition with specific regard to the Australasian region through seven themes: New Views, New Natures, New Cities, New Stories, New Signs, New Techniques and New Practices.