Australia is awash with landscape architecture awards!

AROUND THE WORLD with LAA; Whiringa-ā-nuku | October 4

Happy Urban october!

FUZHOU, CHINA, WILL HOST WORLD CITIES DAY FROM 31 OCTOBER TO 2 NOVEMBER.

Landscape Architecture Aotearoa continues our restless quest to bring readers a regular topping up of carefully curated international news from the wider world of landscape architecture, landscape architects and related areas of interest or pursuit.

Presented in a digest format this is designed to deliver items that you may not have known about, or could be intrigued by.

For instance, did you know

… that Australia is awash with landscape architecture awards!

… that World Habitat Day is held on the first Monday of October each year, thus heralding the beginning of the UN-designated month of Urban October?

… that Sydney is in the midst of planning and implementation of two adjacent ‘city square’ projects (one old and one new)?

… that our indigenous Māmaku was the inspiration for a song performed by Scotland’s Botanic Choir in September ahead of the re-opening of the Palm Houses at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh?

… the unsung story behind the rescue of New York City’s ‘Survivor Tree’? (told for the first time in 2026).

If you didn’t know, you do now.

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Please send any feedback or suggestions for items to laaotearoa@nzila.co.nz Also, if you know anyone who might like to subscribe to our fortnightly LAA e-bulletin please share this link to them: SUBSCRIBE TO LAA (brought to you by Tuia Pito Ora New Zealand Insitute of Landscape Architects)

AILA and Architecture Media help to ring in a bumper awards season

At left: This AILA tagline is holding its ground.

In a first for Australia, there are currently two landscape architecture award programmes running in parallel. They are the long-running AILA Landscape Architecture Awards and the newcomer, the inaugural Landscape Australia Awards run by Architecture Media through its digital platform Landscape Australia.

The AILA awards in brief

Celebrations of AILA chapter awards have been taking place across Australia in QLD, ACT, VIC, NT, SA, WA, NSW and most recently, on Friday 1 October, Tasmania. Pointers to the award recipients are shown below, and respective listings of the 2026 Juries are viewable here.

Queensland (QLD) - winners as published on Landscape Australia

Australian Capital Territory (ACT)- winners as published on Landscape Australia

Victoria (VIC) - winners as published on Landscape Australia

South Australia (SA) - winners as published on Landscape Australia

Western Australia (WA) - winners as published on Landscape Australia

New South Wales (NSW) - winners as published on Landscape Australia

Northern Territory (NT) - winners as published on Landscape Australia

Tasmania (TAS) - see the Tasmania chapter’s Instagram page

The Landscape Australia Awards

The winners of the inaugural Landscape Australia Awards will be announced online on Thursday 22 October 2026 on the Landscape Australia and ArchitectureAu websites.

Projects in the shortlist include:

The 2026 jury comprises Claire Martin (associate director, Oculus), Catherin Bull (professor emeritus, University of Melbourne), Robert Champion (founder, Tarn) and Jefa Greenaway (director, Greenaway Architects). The jurors were joined by jury chair and editor of Landscape Australia Emily Wong. Emily has a background in landscape architecture, art history, journalism and law.

And Don’t forget The PIA …

Two award rounds of note this year, related to the Planning Institute of Australia (PIA), are:

The Urban Design Awards

These national awards, announced earlier this year, are co-convened by the PIA, the Australian Institute of Architects IAIA) and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA), to showcase excellence across Built Outcomes, Research and Advocacy, Strategic Design and Policy, and Urban Design Champions. 

The winners and further background information, can be viewed here.

PIA’s 2026 National Awards for Planning Excellence

These awards were presented in May, and warranted three media releases:

  • National planning winners recognised for building more resilient and connected communities - LINK

  • Award-winning planning projects show communities grow better through long term planning - LINK

  • Award-Winning Projects Demonstrate the Power of Good Planning Happy 75th to the PIA - LINK

Happy 75th to the PIA

The Planning Institute of Australia has been celebrating its 75th birthday this year. In August, Emma Riley, PIA National President and Board Chair, expressed her gratitude to the many planners, past and present, whose leadership, ideas and dedication have shaped both the Institute and the profession .

Emma: “As I reflected on the discussions from the 1951 Congress that laid the foundations for PIA, I was struck by how many of the big issues remain familiar. Housing, population growth, transport, regional development and the future of our cities and communities continue to challenge and inspire planners today. What has changed is the scale and complexity of those challenges. What hasn't changed is the profession's commitment to thinking beyond the immediate and helping create places that work better for people, communities and future generations.

40 years since the first World Habitat Day

In the midst of a global housing crisis World Habitat Day is an opportunity to consider how to realise the ambition of ensuring access to adequate housing for all as a cornerstone for achieving the SDGs and the New Urban Agenda.

World Habitat Day was first marked in 1986 in Nairobi, Kenya, with the theme ‘Shelter is my right’. The theme for the global observance this year, on Monday 5 October, is ‘Adequate Housing for All’.

As part of the day’s programme, two individuals and three organisations will be awarded a UN-Habitat Scroll of Honour Award for making outstanding contributions to urban development, including improving the quality of urban life for all and ensuring adequate, affordable, and accessible housing.

The five worldwide awardees for 2026 are:

Put World Cities Day on your calendar!

Later this month World Cities Day will be observed on 31 October. It was first celebrated in 2014. The theme this year is on addressing urban regeneration as a catalyst for achieving adequate housing for all. It will showcase how combining area-based regeneration with housing and informal settlements strategies can deliver inclusive climate-resilient neighbourhoods. It will also emphasize participatory, community-led regeneration, supported by safeguards that prevent displacement and ensure benefits for existing residents through improved housing.

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A special note: UN-Habitat has officially opened the call for expression of interest to host the global observances of World Habitat Day and World Cities Day in 2027. The call will close on 30 November 2026.

For more information see: URBANOCTOBER.UNHABITAT.ORG

Squaring up in the centre of Sydney

Image: Artist impression of the new square proposed for the centre of Sydney showing an event.

As well as creating a new public square in Central Sydney - opposite Sydney Town Hall and bounded by George, Pitt and Park streets - the City of Sydney is also in the throes of renewing Sydney Square - the open public space between Sydney Town Hall and St Andrew’s Cathedral.

They are bifurcated by the Sydney Light Rail that opened in 2019.

The new ‘town hall’ square in Sydney

The new square involves removing the 7 buildings on the site, none of which are heritage listed. While not yet named the City of Sydney is exploring a name using a Sydney Aboriginal word and is following the principles in its naming policy.

The new public square is located on Gadigal Country, near the catchment of the Tank Stream. For thousands of years, Gadigal people used walking tracks in this area to move between important places such as the freshwater stream, Warrane/Sydney Cove, campsites and ceremonial places. George Street is believed to follow one of these original tracks, with another crossing nearby along what are now Druitt and Park streets.

The City of Sydney has stated that the city, “like other great global cities”, needs “well-designed public spaces where people can come together, spend time and connect”. In fact ideas for a civic square near Sydney Town Hall go back to the 19th century, with several possible locations considered over time right up to extensive community consultation in 2007.

The City of Sydney resolved to move ahead with the design and construction of the new square in February 2026. It’s expected that demolition and construction will begin in 2028 with all works completed by 2031.

A concept design has been developed by lead design consultant and architect JPW, partnering with landscape architects ASPECT Studios, with the public being given an opportunity to view and comment on the design before the end of this year. As outlined to date, the project includes a generous public open space with:

  • more than 30 new native trees that will provide 50% canopy cover 

  • an interactive water element

  • integrated seating and movable chairs and tables 

  • new creative lighting

  • infrastructure to support events and public activities

  • improved walking connections to transport hubs.

The development application for the project was lodged on 1 October 2026. In line with the direction issued by the State’s Minister for Planning and Public Spaces, Paul Scully, on 16 September 2026, the development application won’t be determined until the minister receives a report on the state planning significance of the project from the New South Wales Government’s Independent Planning Commission.

Source: City of Sydney

Breathing new life into the old square

Centre - An aerial photo of Sydney Square looking northwest, circa 1977 (City of Sydney Archives A-00017025); Left - Sydney Square and Andrews House under construction 1974 (City of Sydney Archives A-00017472); Right - A large rally in Sydney Square (City of Sydney Archives A-00017025)

Sydney Square is the name given to the open public space between Sydney Town Hall and St Andrew’s Cathedral. The square’s original paving, lighting and furniture are, at over 50 years old, nearing the end of their life. The current paving has deteriorated and is now deemed out of place with the high-quality granite along George Street.

Renewal works are planned to begin in 2027 and include installing new paving, lighting, furniture and planting managed by the City of Sydney.

Source: City of Sydney

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A RECOMMENDED BOOK:

  • City Squares: Eighteen writers on the spirit and significance of squares around the world (Harper, 2016). This set of original essays, by writers who include Zadie Smith, New Yorker editor David Remnick and author Ari Shavit, are accompanied by more than 90 photographs. Editor Catie Marron is also known for the book City Parks: Public Spaces Private Thoughts (Harper, 2013). She has been a chair of the board of directors of Friends of the High Line.

Re-opening with a song inspired by Māmaku

What better way to celebrate the reopening of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh's Palm Houses than a choir singing a new song titled Māmaku, after the black tree fern / Sphaeropteris (Cyathea) medullaris.

The trees stand tall at the centre of the Palm Houses at the RBGE, which only reopened to the public on Friday 2 October, for the first time in seven years.

Songwriter and folk singer Karine Polwart had been inspired to write the song for the Botanics Choir “to celebrate the extraordinary resilience of plants and people and the sense of light and life that the Palm House reopening brings.”

The closure of the Palm Houses came as part of a wider £58.1 million Edinburgh Biomes restoration and development programme. The restoration included the replacement of all 5,750 panes of glass, 600m² of ironwork being fully restored or replaced and 500m² of sandstone repairs being carried out.

Editor’s note: Thanks for the tip-off about this special occasion goes to Lynn Davidson, a New Zealand poet, essayist, and fiction writer who is living in Edinburgh and is a member of the Botanics Choir.

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A SIDEBAR for lovers of soil

Another current highlight at the RBGE is an exhibition titled Earth Matters: Seeing soil through art. The exhibition marks 300 years since the birth of James Hutton, and Edinburgh-born geologist, farmer and thinker who is said to have “revolutionised our understanding of Earth’s creation and the ground beneath us”. Inspired by Hutton and subsequent trailblazers, over 30 artists delve into the living ecosystem of soil to reveal its brilliance, beauty and fragility. The Exhibition at Inverleith House, RBGE closes on 1 November.

Editor’s note: If you’re a soil affectionado, see ‘A Site to Behold’, a story on LAA from 2022 about the soil exhibition staged at the Te Auaha Gallery, as well as Ko Wai Au? Who Am I? about two installations in Wellington at the same time - one by landscape urbanist Dr Hannah Hopewell, the other by Toronto-based experimental design practice Lateral Office.

The untold story behind the 9/11 Survivor Tree

In September this year, LAA published an article titled 9/11 Reclaiming Ground Zero: A documentary that, in liaison with David Russo, the director of the New York chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA-NY), also highlighted the special screening of the movie held by ASLA-NY and featuring one of the designers of the 9/11 Memorial Park.

David: "We were very grateful to Adam Greenspan for his open and honest discussion with us about the memorial design. There was a special moment too where one of our members was shown speaking in the footage from that community meeting so long ago”.

"Stories abounded from those in attendance who included a landscape architect who had worked on the surrounding streetscape and a Parks Department landscape architect who had helped nurse the Survivor Tree, a Callery pear tree, back to health and recommended it be brought back to the site"

More than this, David was able to help that Parks Department landscape architect - Michael Browne - to surface a detailed recollection of this largely untold story, with permission from the department.

To read Michael’s story, titled ‘Spirit Tree’, you can go to the ASLA-NY website here.

This is an excerpt and abbreviation:

My name is Michael Browne, and I have worked as a Landscape Architect for 37 years in the NYC Parks Capital Projects, Division of Design and Construction…

At the direction of the NYC Parks Commissioner Henry J. “Starquest” Stern, and upon the request from my friend and former colleague Rebecca “Becky” Clough, a Landscape Architect employed by DDC assigned to help manage the removal of the debris [of 9/11], I visited what was left of the World Trade Center with the intent to investigate salvageable materials. I toured the site with Becky from October 16 through November 9, 2001. 

Becky had invited me to inspect a special tree she had found buried between buildings 4 and 5. These buildings framed the Church Street entrance plaza to the World Trade Center. The tree, a Bradford Callery pear, Pyrus calleryena ‘Cleveland Select’, was unique because it had sprung back to life with bright green leaves despite being knocked over, covered in layers of dust, and losing most of its branches. 

… the timing for saving the tree was everything, the removals were happening at a breakneck pace. The basement levels were being exposed and the subway tunnel was uncovered. The area where the tree was located was soon to be demolished.

Many times, we were made to feel we were being a nuisance for pursuing what appeared to be a frivolous effort to save a ragged stump most everyone thought was a lost cause. After three weeks of hustling and getting the run around, we were able to load the tree on November 9, 2001. I thought the date was fitting because it is the eve of the founding of the Marine Corps (USMC) and our tree extraction was following the marine slogan, “improvise, adapt and overcome.’

As already mentioned, you can go to the ASLA-NY website here to read the full story.

Please send any feedback or suggestions for items to laaotearoa@nzila.co.nz Also, if you know anyone who might like to subscribe to fortnightly LAA e-bulletin please share this link to them: SUBSCRIBE TO LAA

#Around-the-world, #LAA-newswire, NewsbriefsStephen Olsen