CORNELIA HAHN OBERLANDER

LEGACIES
CSLA 75TH ANNIVERSARY
FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2009

Excerpt:
Landscape architects today have at their disposal the experience and technical
ability to enhance our contacts with nature in an infinite variety of ways on the
ground as well as on roofs. We have the knowledge and the technology
necessary to keep a city green. We have at our disposal highly developed
growing media, knowledge of storm water management, drip irrigation as well as
non-toxic slow release fertilizers and biological pest controls. New, hardier and
sturdier plant materials are constantly being developed by the nursery trades.
Landscape architects today enjoy a large, accumulated experience in the
selection of plant material that can withstand the stress of the urban environment.
We have the know-how to green rooftops and illuminate atrium spaces as well as
preserve natural habitats in metropolitan areas.
What we need today are multidisciplinary landscape architects who think
conceptually and perceptually to keep pace with present changing social needs
which challenge us daily. If we want landscape architecture to become the Art of
the Possible we must discover new aesthetically pleasing solutions, ecologically
and technically sound ones, while satisfying social and economic goals. We
need what I call VIM, namely vision, imagination, and motivation to accomplish
these goals. Furthermore we need three new Rʼs for every project:
1. Responsibility for our action
2. Willingness to take Risks
3.Research – Analysis & Synthesis

CONVOCATION ADDRESS
May 21, 2008
DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA

Mr. Chancellor, Mr. President, Distinguished Platform Party, Fellow Graduates,
Parents and Friends:
 
It is with a deep sense of humility, pleasure, and pride that I accept this honorary
degree and the opportunity to address Dalhousie’s Class of 2008, in one of
Canada’s historic places of learning and teaching.
My pleasure and pride derives from the spiritual presence of Humphrey Carver,
an earlier Honorary Degree recipient, trained as an architect, and founder of the
Canadian Society of Landscape Architects in 1934.
 
Locally, Carver is well known for his pioneering efforts in conserving Sandy Bay
Beach, which became the first protected beach under the Provinces Beaches
Protection Act, and served as a model for conservation efforts along ocean
shores from coast to coast.

Today, I am happy to welcome his son Peter and daughter Deborah in the
Convocation, and pay tribute to historic efforts to conserve and protect Canada’s
land and resource base from coast to coast.

Dalhousie University Convocation Address continued . . .