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Practicing to PLA for the Profession05-10-24 | Association News

Practicing to PLA for the Profession

Nearly 300 Surveys Taken and More than 150 Written Comments
by Staff

Sub: Who's the Alpha PLA?
Wow . . . What a great response to last month's column and the subsequent survey. Within 48 hours we had nearly 300 surveys taken and more than 150 written comments. A quick breakdown shows an even split with PLAs. The nuance is that ASLA members are leaning toward the Reframing and non-ASLA members leaning towards the Alpha Designer, and the only clear demographic is the non-LA Architects and Engineers (of which, 80%+ like the Reframing stance). With responses still pouring in, we'll save the complete analysis for next month when we also review the upcoming Candidates for ASLA National President.
In the meantime, LASN has been looking hard at licensure, and there are some good signs coming out of the Board of Trustees. They recently released policy statements endorsing a "Practice Act" as the most appropriate form of regulation and providing a definition of the "Practice of Landscape Architecture" that was technical, specific, and yet broad in scope. It makes me wonder if the Trustees are communicating with HQ and the rest of the ASLA members, but that's for another time. Here is a link to the statements: https://tinyurl.com/ASLA-Licensure-Statements

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Sub: PLAying for the Practice of the Profession . . .
Licensure/Regulation is the crowning point for the profession. Building Architects first became licensed in 1897 in Illinois. That was right about the time Landscape Architects were starting to form a 'Society.' Fifty-five (55) years later, Landscape Architects received their first license in California, achieving nationwide licensure in 2010 when Vermont joined the ranks. That's less than 15 years ago. Practicing Landscape Architects (PLAs) are just beginning to spread their wings across the nation, so it's time to get a bit more technical about who is and who is not a Landscape Architect.
LASN has been in the habit of checking the state lists when we encounter Landscape Architects for features, news, webinars, etc. We often speak with people who say that they are a Landscape Architect, even though they have either never had a license (maybe practicing abroad or practicing before their state became licensed) or they were a licensed Landscape Architect, but their registration/license has expired. So, what to do about those people, and why is there a P in front of the LA?

The Trustee report has a section on the acronym, preferring PLA over RLA (which was first used by LASN circa., 1986) due to registration vs licensure issues across states. That's good reasoning, however they want to use the P to indicate Professional as opposed to Practicing, citing that that is what the engineers do (PE).
Well, first, you should be leading, not following engineers, and more importantly there is a distinct difference between the two words. A Professional, as opposed to an Amateur, is a person paid for their participation, like a pro vs amateur bowler. So, if there are professional Landscape Architects, there must be amateur Landscape Architects. But . . . No one can call themselves a Landscape Architect unless they have a current license to do so, so the term professional leaves too much to chance and interpretation. And what about a Non or Un-Professional LA? Are they amateurs or are they just bad at it?
However . . . If you are a Practicing Landscape Architect (PLA), then you must hold a license/ registration. You can be a Non-Practicing LA (NPLA), which would mean that at one point you did hold a license, or were working before your state realized the overwhelming need for PLAs . . . But now you are retired or just no longer working or signing documents as a Landscape Architect. Either way, with Practicing as the base you can still acknowledge your hard-earned experience and even keep the acronym into perpetuity while still signaling that you are not active nor claiming to be so.
So, Way-to-Go Trustees on your work with licensure! You need to keep your foot on the accelerator. It's good to see you're not PLAying with the profession, so now let's Practice to make it perfect!

Filed Under: LICENSURE, PLA, ASLA, LASN
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