The 2023 IFLA World Congress will be held as a bilateral event in both Nairobi, Kenya and Stockholm, Sweden. The initiative for this collaboration was taken in Montreal in 2017 during the annual International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) World Congress. Due to economic and political barriers, participants from different parts of the world have faced difficulties in participating in past IFLA World Congresses. At the same time, countries where the profession is already strong have dominated as host countries, which has resulted in a strongly limited global perspective and presence.

A bilateral congress simultaneously held on two continents aims to increase the opportunity of participation for all members of IFLA while at the same time creating new opportunities for collaboration and discussion across international borders and regions. By organizing activities in two locations with live streamed broadcasts for selected lectures and discussions we increase the possibilities to learn from each other’s unique knowledge and experiences.

The 2023 World Congress in both Sweden and Kenya will be open to both a physical and an online audience. It is a congress for landscape architects, urban planners, designers, engineers, researchers, stake holders and all others who want to take part in creating a sustainable built environment.

Regardless if you are in Nairobi, Stockholm or online you will be part of the same congress.

Theme: Emergent interaction
Emergent interaction aims to explore emerging forms of collective problem solving, networks of ideas and borderless strategies in order to find new solutions to the urgent issues of climate change, social inequality and biodiversity.

How can we facilitate interaction across national and institutional boundaries, between citizens and governments; between academic institutions and private practices, between political frameworks and planetary boundaries; between culture and nature, between the digital and the physical, between cities and ecologies?

Through a unique collaboration, Kenya and Sweden want you to collectively engage with these questions during the IFLA 2023 World Congress.