Niedersachsen+Bremen

At the beginning of June, bdla members from the regional associations of Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Lower Saxony Bremen were able to see for themselves that Lüneburg is not only worth a visit for those interested in history and fans of red roses, but also for landscape architects.

Foto: Hubertus von Dressler

At the invitation of the Lower Saxony Bremen regional association, around 30 bdla members came to this year's "Summer Festival of the Northern Lights" in the salt city, where a varied program awaited them: after a short round of introductions, the first thing to do was to explore the city. On the way through the so-called subsidence area, the Kalkberg nature reserve, the old town and the latest urban development projects, two representatives of the city's urban planning and green planning department and a city guide reported on the city's eventful history and current planning challenges and tasks. The latter include considerable competition for space as a result of a steady influx of new residents, current plans and projects in the areas of climate change adaptation and mobility transition as well as digital (participation) formats in the context of the ISEK development.

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After these inspiring insights into municipal planning practice, the participants gathered over coffee and cake in the centrally located "Utopia" conference center to immerse themselves in current bdla topics during three entertaining presentations. Steffi Schüppel, bdla spokesperson for international affairs, kicked things off with her presentation "Landscape architecture on the international stage". An introduction to the history and structure of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) was followed by references to some of the IFLA's current major projects. These include the ongoing restructuring process, the establishment of the Landscape Knowledge Hub driven by Gwendolyn Kusters and others, and the bdla's lobbying work for green issues with the EU Commission in Brussels. In the second presentation, Gotthard Storz, bdla State Chair of Lower Saxony Bremen until June 2024, outlined the experiences, challenges and perspectives of landscape planners based on various everyday planning projects. He addressed the special features of current (large-scale) landscape planning projects, such as very long-term planning periods and large planning areas, intensive cross-office and interdisciplinary cooperation and sometimes outdated and inflexible planning instruments. In the third and final presentation, Elisabeth Auer, Managing Director of the bdla regional association for Bavaria, reported on her experiences with the Bavarian Landscape Architecture Award. The numerous valuable tips and advice were received with great interest by those present with a view to the joint project "North German Landscape Architecture Award".

Moderated by Björn Bodem, the newly elected chairman of the Lower Saxony Bremen regional association, a concluding round of discussions focused, among other things, on the question of how cooperation between the northern German regional associations can be deepened and consolidated. The idea of a "joint committee", which would facilitate the coordination of joint projects, among other things, was received positively and continued well into the night by the "Northern Lights" during a joint barbecue evening at the historic water tower.

If you would like to find out more about the results of the event in Lüneburg, you are welcome to request a short digital report via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

by Paul Tontsch, M. Sc. Landscape Architecture, Junior Member bdla Lower Saxony Bremen

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