Nove Hardy Conference, South Bohemia jointly organised by LRG and the Czech Institute of Landscape Ecology. Source: LRExtra No.29, Autumn 2001
As the Landscape Research Group approaches its 60th anniversary, recent exchanges with honorary members have provided a welcome opportunity to reflect on the Group’s longer history and the varied ways members continue to connect with its activities.
As a new senior executive of the Group, I have found it particularly valuable to speak with those who carry this longer institutional memory. Conversations with honorary members and past executives offer insights that cannot easily be captured in formal records, helping to illuminate the relationships, practices, and informal traditions that have shaped LRG over time.
Founded in the mid-1960s, LRG emerged from a growing interest in understanding landscape as a field that bridges disciplines — drawing together geography, planning, ecology, architecture, archaeology, and the humanities. From its earliest meetings and publications, the Group positioned itself not simply as a professional association but as a forum for dialogue across different ways of studying and experiencing landscape.
These recent reflections do not seek to contrast past and present, but rather to highlight the continuity that underpins LRG’s evolution. Across decades of disciplinary change and expanding international networks, members consistently emphasise shared themes of curiosity, exchange, and collegial connection.
Publishing and visual culture
Bud Young, a long-standing LRG member and former editor of LRExtra, offers a vivid reminder of the Group’s earlier years:
“I joined LRG perhaps in summer of 1978…”
Reflecting on publishing practices at the time, he recalls the value of diverse and visually rich formats:
“It went to 90 issues and gave space to short record articles, reports, listings etc and was illustrated.”
Alongside this, he emphasises something that remains deeply resonant for landscape researchers and practitioners alike:
“Images seem to me to be so important.”
Young’s recollection highlights the longstanding importance of visual material within landscape research. Photographs, drawings, maps, and other forms of visual documentation have long played a central role in the way landscapes are interpreted, communicated, and debated within the field.
Through the picture frame by Philip Pacey, University of Central Lancashire
Source: LRExtra No.29, Autumn 2001
Networks and international connections
Lily Kong, honorary member and long-time supporter of LRG’s international networks, reflects on the importance of intellectual community and collegial culture within professional associations. Her correspondence highlights how experiences of welcome, exchange, and scholarly connection shape members’ long-term relationships with research networks.
Lucia Costa, honorary member and former member of the Landscape Research International Editorial Advisory Board, provides an international perspective on pathways into the LRG community:
“My story with LRG begins during the 1990s…”
She recalls the formative role of her supervisor, Dr Jacquie Burgess:
“Jacquie introduced me to LRG.”
And expresses a continued sense of affiliation:
“If there is anything I can do for LRG from Rio de Janeiro, please let me know.”
Such reflections also point to the role LRG has played in supporting early career researchers and connecting scholars across national contexts. Over time, participation in the Group has often begun through supervision relationships, conference encounters, and introductions within wider landscape research networks.
Continuity through exchange
An illustration from Learning from Landscapes by Eileen Adams and supplement note written by Bud Young for the very first issue of LRExtra
Source: LRExtra, Issue 1 (1988)
Alongside these honorary reflections, recent conversations with long-standing members also point to a continuing interest in participation and exchange. Members frequently express a desire for opportunities to share perspectives, remain involved in discussions, and contribute to the Group’s evolving activities.
Taken together, these reflections illustrate a consistent thread running through LRG’s history. While research contexts, publication practices, and communication technologies continue to evolve, members continue to describe LRG as a space of connection, exchange, and intellectual curiosity.
As LRG approaches this milestone, these voices serve as a useful reminder that continuity within an organisation rarely depends on preserving fixed forms. More often, it lies in sustaining the shared purposes and relationships that connect members across time.
As preparations begin for LRG’s 60th anniversary programme, these reflections offer a reminder that the Group’s future will continue to be shaped by the same spirit of curiosity, exchange and collegial connection that has sustained it for six decades.
Sarah M Lawton, Landscape Research Group
Director of Communications and Membership
Email: sarah.lawton@landscaperesearch.org