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After the Ribbon Cutting:
Why is landscape maintenance so vexing?
Maintenance: the act of maintaining, i.e. the state of being maintained, that is, to preserve from failure or decline; the act of keeping something in good condition
Who doesn’t love a ribbon cutting associated with the unveiling of a long awaited outdoor place? The pomp, the ceremony! After all the effort required to get to this point, the inauguration is the high point of the design/development process. But whether celebrating a new work or an appropriately protected historic place, a common lament persists: why such suboptimal care afterwards? And why such seeming disinterest in appropriate maintenance budgets? Is it just assumed that these places can take care of themselves?
Ottawa Aerial
For the Alliance for Historic Landscape Preservation, maintenance is critical in ensuring the long-term viability of all cultural landscapes, whether designed or vernacular. This unique art and vocation encompasses not only the routine upkeep of outdoor areas but also comprehensive solutions that enhance aesthetics and functionality, both of which can serve as heritage values. Well-maintained landscapes can remain resilient against environmental challenges, thereby contributing to their long-term sustainability and viability. Writ large, they engender both physical and mental health and, ultimately good communities.
So why is maintaining landscapes seemingly so hard to do? And why is it so vexing?
Parliament Hill
In Canada, cultural landscapes of national significance have benefitted from site-specific maintenance plans. These critical longer-term exercises have been the direct result of ‘authorities having jurisdiction’ who understood the importance of both protecting a site’s original design intent, its evolution over time, and its ascribed values.
Ottawa Locks - Rideau Canal
In June 2027, the next ‘in-person’ gathering of the AHLP will hear about, witness firsthand, discuss, and share ‘lessons learned’ about proper - and properly funded - maintenance approaches for public spaces/places in Canada’s capital. While in Ottawa, several of these will be showcased, including the landscape of the National Gallery of Canada, conceived of and executed under the supervision of Cornelia Oberlander, Canada’s first recipient of the Governor-General’s Medal in Landscape Architecture. Please refer to the Call for Papers.
National Gallery of Canada
At the end of the day, the question of maintenance is really about caring for our public places: It is not just about ‘cutting the ribbon’ and walking away!
Kiweki Point
