A few weeks ago, one of our landscape architects traveled to Jyväskylä in Finland to lecture at the Finnish landscape and technology fair Viherpäivät and participate in a live-broadcasted panel discussion afterwards!
“Viherpäivät Landscape and Technology Expo” is Finland’s largest national park and landscape fair. Here, landscape architects, landscape engineers, construction workers, city gardeners, suppliers of materials, equipment and machines, as well as trade magazines, gather to visit technical exhibitions, attend seminars and listen to lectures. During this year’s fair, one of Pontarius‘ landscape architects was invited to talk about successful municipal park management, a lecture based on the master’s thesis that she and another person conducted two years ago!
Among other things, the lecture was about various success factors behind park management in smaller municipalities. It is evident that a holistic perspective is needed, where aspec ts concerning both the physical work out in the city’s parks as well as organizational and leadership factors are needed in order to achieve a successful result. Good strategies are needed to find great values in small areas, design, plant, care, commitment, roles and goals, communication, competence and marketing!
The master’s thesis that formed the basis of the lecture is entitled “Successful park management – inspirational guidance from small municipalities with great ambitions” and has previously been summarized, translated and published in “Viherympäristö“, the Finnish magazine for park and landscape.