Nordrhein-Westfalen

More than 200 guests from politics, administration and the green professional associations accepted the invitation of the bdla nw and the Verband Garten-, Landschafts- und Sportplatzbau NRW to a parliamentary evening on June 13. This event, which takes place every two years on the MS Riverstar in Düsseldorf, enjoys great popularity.

Together with VGL Association President Christian Leonhards, Ina Bimberg, Chairwoman of the Federation of German Landscape Architects NRW, was able to welcome not only numerous members of the state parliament and several ministers, but also the President of the state parliament, Andre Kuper, and the newly sworn-in NRW Environment Minister Ursula Heinen - Esser.

In her speech, Ina Bimberg highlighted important issues for the future of the profession, such as the increasing densification of inner cities and adaptation to climate change. The "White Paper on Urban Greening" of the Federal Government and the "Urban Greening" guideline of the previous state government of North Rhine-Westphalia provide the framework for the complex fields of action and the possibilities for implementation.

"With €50 million, the "Future Urban Green" funding programme forms an initial foundation, but must be further expanded and contribute not only to the creation of urban green spaces, but above all to their qualified maintenance and upkeep. In the course of the upcoming redistribution of subsidies, the growing importance of high-quality urban green spaces for livable cities and communities must be emphatically reflected," Bimberg appealed to the ministers and parliamentarians present. The federal concept "Green Infrastructure" presented in the last legislative period should now be concretised at state and regional level and put into practice in an interdepartmental strategy.

Joint competitions such as the "Viertel vor Grün" ("Neighbourhoods before Green") competition run by the housing industry association, VGL and bdla nrw should be continued in order to raise awareness of the importance of high-quality open spaces in the residential environment, Bimberg continued. Ina Bimberg addressed the shortage of skilled workers as another important topic. "The need for qualified and comprehensively trained specialists in our discipline in the most populous federal state of NRW is enormous: both in independent offices and in the specialist departments of the administration, numerous positions cannot be filled. This applies in a similar way to the management level in gardening and landscaping.

The VGL and the bdla in NRW have therefore for some time been pursuing the goal of newly establishing a second, attractive university course for landscape architecture and landscaping in the middle of the state, in addition to the only university in Höxter to date. After numerous discussions, the Bergische Universität in Wuppertal crystallised out as a possible location for this. There the new course of studies would excellently complement the existing courses of study in architecture and civil engineering, and due to the proximity of a large number of specialist companies, education and practice could be ideally combined.
"We are counting on your broad support for our plan to establish this course of study in Wuppertal in order to be able to achieve a better supply of personnel for this specialist field, which is so important for the state of NRW, in the near future," said Bimberg, promoting the initiative.

The medium-sized entrepreneurs of the gardening and landscaping sector and the landscape architects have been meeting with the members of the state parliament for years within the framework of the traditional Parliamentary Evening. The aim of the evening is to have an exchange of opinions in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere. Through this constant dialogue within the framework of the Parliamentary Evenings over two decades now, a relationship of trust has developed between the "green associations" and politics, which offers the opportunity to remain in discussion with each other with regard to future decisions in the interest of our state and the complex environmental tasks set here, but of course also for the benefit of the planning offices and companies.

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