The first national congress of landscape architects, organized by the Chamber of Landscape Architects jointly with LAUD took place at the university last week.
The attendees were academicians, researchers, graduates and students from various landscape architecture departments as well as officials from various governmental and private institutions. 
There were around 600 participants from all over Turkey, and 64 papers were presented, which were also published in the book of proceedings, sponsored by the Housing Development Authority. This symposium provided a ground for a cross-cultural discussion among the invited representatives from the Turkish and German Chamber of Landscape Architects, the Department of Landscape Architecture of Berlin Technical University, and the Department of Ecology of Lower Saxony.
During the congress, prizes were presented: to the people of Bergama for their persistence in defending their natural and cultural heritage; and to scholars for their contributions to the recognition and institutionalization of the profession; as well as to the students of Bilkent who had won prizes at the Kušulu Park Urban Landscape Design Student Competition.
