Description

Burnley Gardens, located within the historic The University of Melbourne Burnley campus, is one of Melbourne’s most significant cultural and educational landscapes. Developed over generations by horticulturalists, landscape designers and educators, the gardens reflect a long tradition of experimentation, environmental stewardship and public learning.

More than a botanical setting, Burnley Gardens can be understood as a living knowledge landscape — a place where ecological understanding, cultivation and landscape practice have been shaped, tested and shared across time. The gardens continue to embody relationships between care, learning, environment and public life.

Cultivating Generosity: Women Who Shape Civic Space invites visitors to explore this landscape not just as a heritage artefact, but an outcome of a practice that embodies generosity.

The event will be hosted by LOLA, a collective of practising female landscape architects committed to visibility, mentorship and advocacy within the profession. This event forms part of a broader initiative to foreground women’s contribution to Australia’s civic landscapes and to foster dialogue between practitioners, students and the public.

What's On

LOLA (Ladies of Landscape Architecture) will host Cultivating Generosity: Women Who Shape Civic Space, a garden salon set within Burnley College a historic landscape shaped over generations through horticultural practice, environmental learning and landscape experimentation.

This salon explores generosity as something made spatial through judgement, collaboration and care. Bringing together three practising landscape architects from different types of practice, the conversation reflects on what it takes to create public environments that support civic life.

Rather than focusing on individual projects, the discussion centres on lived practice: how generosity is defended, sustained and embedded in the design of our public realm. Attendees will gain insight into the work behind the projects and the responsibilities carried by those who shape it.

This salon offers a rare opportunity to explore the vital role landscape architects play in shaping our shared civic spaces. In doing so, it reflects the ethos of Generous City, foregrounding generosity as both a professional practice and a collective responsibility.