Trustees Letter
Tom D o ol i tt l e
Change is constant,
and usually good. For
more than 20 years now,
I’ve been watching the
changes at the Boston
Society of Landscape
Architects from one of
the best seats in the house. We’ve spun
off two new chapters, and still grown our
membership by 20% to over 600 professionals.
We’ve moved to professional management,
bringing stability and continuity to the
operations of the organization. Our financial
status has also become significantly more
stable, providing a solid base from which
to plan our future. We’re keeping up with
the times, using social media to connect
with our membership and our supporters
and followers. Our awards program,
always a foundational element of the
chapter, continues to grow and flourish,
with consistently high participation rates
and featuring some of the most innovative
and creative work being done anywhere
around the country. And we’ve pushed
the envelope on visibility, with an evolving
presence at the Architecture Boston Expo
(formerly known as Build Boston) and
other activities that promote the excellent
work that landscape architects are doing
to improve the quality of life in New England and around the world.
On the national level, the American
Society of Landscape Architects has made
similar advancements. The organization
is now more focused and effective than
it has been in many years, with excellent
leadership and a staff that is truly
knowledgeable about and committed to
this profession. The ASLA is now treated as
a trusted partner by other design organizations, working shoulder-to-shoulder with
architects, engineers, and others to advance
solutions to the problems of today’s and
tomorrow’s world. And we’re being sought
out in the halls of Congress and state leg-
islatures as the profession that has the answers to many difficult
issues facing our society and our physical world. The recent push
for visibility is paying dividends in interest in landscape architecture
in multiple directions: It is helping the potential users of our services
understand what it is we do and how landscape architects are the
right professionals to help them achieve their goals. It’s also drawing more and more people to the field as future practitioners. It’s a
great time to be a landscape architect, and the future looks even
brighter for us.
These accomplishments don’t just happen by themselves. It takes
people with a vision beyond their day-to-day work, and a commitment to grow and broaden the profession, people with a
willingness to give a little bit now in return for a bigger payoff in
the future. The BSL