Johan Folkesson, Chief architect at The Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket, came to Campus Alnarp on 9 October to receive his award as SLU alumnus of the year 2024 and to participate in a conversation about Landscape architectures contribution to the next steps for sustainability.
The award was presented by Christina Lunner Kolstrup
Dean of Faculty of Landscape Architecture, Horticulture and Crop Production Sciences.
- It is such an honour to me, and inspiring that the landscape architecture area is uplifted, we have solutions for society. We can visualise an alternative future as a base for conversation. It is important to show qualitative visions in a society that to a great extent is built on numbers and facts.
Johan was also invited to a conversation about landscape architecture's unique role and future opportunities, especially in relation to the sustainability transition. How can the profession develop to meet future challenges, and how can the landscape perspective in planning and design be strengthened?
The conversation was moderated by Lina Berglund-Snodgrass, Operations manager at SLU Think Tank Movium and together with Johan Folkesson on the panel, there were Monika Gora, Landscape architect and artist, GORA art&landscape, Sofia Sandqvist Senior Lecturer at the Department of Urban and Rural Development and the students at the landscape architect program at Alnarp, Emilia Pramler and Gustav Stemme.
In the conversations, the panellists discussed the landscape architects roll in the sustainability transition and an important query was how the landscape architects can become more active and work with related issues in the joint community development. Johan Folkesson says that landscape architects contributes with an important holistic perspective and can support politics in decisions about how society can take care of the landscapes in a sustainable way.
The discussions also brought up the landscape architecture program and the students’ participating mean that the teachers convey that the learning in the area continues throughout the career. The students are encouraged to be free, creative and push boundaries during the education.
About collaboration at SLU: https://www.slu.se/en/collaboration/about-collaboration-at-slu/slu-alumni/
Previous recipients: https://www.slu.se/en/collaboration/about-collaboration-at-slu/slu-alumni/slu-alumnus-of-the-year
News about SLU Alumnus of the year 2024: https://www.slu.se/en/ew-news/2024/4/aa2024---en/
slualumn@slu.se
+46 18 67 34 47 or +46 18 67 20 18