30 Years of HED | And Looking to the Future!

The here and now is an exciting time. It is a time of wider recognition that our existence relies upon our ability to work with - and within - natural systems, and to do this we must redefine our relationship with nature; it is not something to be visited on the weekend, but a part of every moment of our lives; we are nature.

Landscape Architecture is the tool that modern society uses to cater for our needs as human beings to interact with the environments and ecosystems that we are a part of. HED is delighted to have that responsibility, and it is not taken lightly.

Since the pandemic, we have seen a shift in emphasis toward the external environment, to protecting and improving our open spaces, and ensuring good integration of nature into our cities and suburbs, both for the health of those urban ecosystems and for the wellbeing of their human inhabitants, who deserve to live in a resilient and biodiverse environment.

The Biodiversity Cop15 in Montreal has heralded a new drive toward the protection of nature across our planet, echoing some of the overarching objectives of the UK government's Nature Positive 2030's 'Nature Recovery for Our Survival, Prosperity and Wellbeing', with one of the headline targets being to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade. Whilst we believe that the goals could be more robust, and that funding is still uncertain, we acknowledge this incredible step forward by the UN.

HED will be looking out for the UK government response, and will continue to play its role through its work and as an organisation, changing perceptions about our relationship with nature one project at a time.

- Carly Kershaw