A landscaping contractor primarily handles the implementation of plans and projects by executing the construction and maintenance work of outdoor spaces.

In contrast, a landscape architect focuses on the design of outdoor spaces, creating plans and designs that ensure aesthetics, functionality, and environmental respect are taken into account. The landscape architecture professional works closely with clients to understand their needs and desires while integrating natural and sustainable elements into their designs. The landscape architect plays a crucial role in harmonizing green spaces with the built environment, ensuring that each project is both beautiful and ecologically responsible.

Additionally, the landscape architect also offers project management services, which can include managing bids (submissions) and providing support during this phase, as well as overseeing the work. These services aim to ensure that the work is executed in accordance with the previously approved plans while maintaining the level of quality required in the specifications.

Both professions are complementary and essential to the realization of quality landscape projects, each bringing its unique expertise to create exceptional outdoor spaces.

You probably suspect it, but it goes without saying that hiring a landscape architect offers numerous advantages for residential, municipal, and institutional projects, as well as for clients dealing with erosion issues or shoreline development.

For residential clients, the landscape architect can transform your backyard, front yard, alley, or any space into a harmonious, functional place that reaches its full potential. The landscape architect will take into account your personal preferences, functional needs, and environmental constraints. They will bring their expertise to enhance the aesthetics of your garden while integrating sustainable and environmentally friendly elements and materials. At Opaysage, we promote an approach that highlights biodiversity and native planting. This type of proposal ensures that your space is resilient and adapted to environmental conditions.

For municipal or institutional projects, the landscape architect plays a crucial role in designing welcoming, functional, and, above all, resilient and sustainable public spaces. Projects such as parks, public squares, and school yards require careful planning and a large-scale vision to meet the needs of the community and decision-makers. The landscape architect knows how to integrate water management solutions, reduce heat islands, and promote biodiversity, thus contributing to the fight against climate change. Including a landscape architect in your project, alongside various professionals (architects, engineers, biologists, etc.), allows for a comprehensive vision of the space to be enhanced or developed, ensuring that a budget is allocated for greening and that local regulations are respected. Ultimately, the interventions of the landscape architect are directly linked to improving the quality of life for citizens and users of the spaces.

Whether it’s a private garden or a public space, their title says it all, even if we sometimes forget: they are the architect of your outdoors. Trust their expertise; it is invaluable!

Whether your project is residential, commercial, institutional, municipal, or real estate, a landscape architect is a valuable ally for the design of your space. Working in collaboration with various professionals, such as engineers, architects, and biologists, it is advisable to involve them from the start of the project. This allows for the harmonization of outdoor development proposals with the contributions of all the different stakeholders involved. The combined expertise of the professionals will ensure that your project not only reflects your vision but even exceeds your expectations.

It is also important to note that the timelines for professional services are often planned several weeks, if not months, in advance. Therefore, it is best to inquire in advance if the services of a landscape architect are required for your permit application, for example. This could result in delays in the completion of your project.

Note for residential clients: The preparation of plans and specifications for a residential project generally takes between 8 to 12 weeks.

Biodiversity is actually biological diversity. This term refers to all species and ecosystems. Basically, biodiversity encompasses everything that lives. Native plants, on the other hand, are plants that are indigenous to a given region, those that grew naturally before horticultural or invasive species were introduced.

At Opaysage, what matters to us is bringing back to our neighborhoods and communal spaces the life that is unique to your region. It is the life that thrives best because it is adapted to the conditions of our territory, and, in turn, it will be the most beneficial for us, the human beings who share this common space. Animals, insects, plants, and we all have our roles to play in our ecosystem!

Sustainable green space management, also known as harmonious management or ecological maintenance, is a practice that emerged in the 1980s. It aims to reduce the importance of maintenance, maximize biodiversity potential, and enhance user experience.

The first step is to document the existing situation. This diagnosis of green spaces specifies the usage by users and the ongoing maintenance. It can also include additional data such as mowing costs, inventory of plant and animal species, and environmental conditions. Based on this analysis, a typology of spaces is defined according to different maintenance regimes. For example, some spaces may be classified as intensive maintenance areas, while others may be categorized as natural or semi-natural zones, each with maintenance regimes tailored to their specific characteristics.

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Local experiences have highlighted the challenges of sustainable green space management. Indeed, changes made in a familiar environment can provoke reactions. Therefore, social acceptability is one of the pillars of the transition to sustainable green space management. The appropriation of spaces generated by this maintenance method can be achieved in several ways: for example, by offering awareness, ideation, and planting activities as part of a project. More generally, education must be at the heart of this change. With an understanding of the different dimensions of the landscape and public expectations, the landscape architect plays a key role in this process, especially since the treated areas must possess high aesthetic qualities. Considering the user's experience and understanding of the places also enhances project quality. For example, at the Montreal Botanical Garden, in areas where grasses are mowed only twice a year, a strip corresponding to the width of two mowers is cut on either side of the paths. The visitor enjoying this natural space thus understands that the growth of vegetation is intentional and that this place has not been neglected by the gardeners.

PROFESSIONAL IMPLICATIONS

The foundations of sustainable green space management involve significant modifications to the professional approach to space design. It is no longer just about designing landscapes delivered to the experience of users, but about establishing and monitoring the ecological relationships that shape them. Sustainable green space management involves a dynamic vision of the landscape as a living and complex system. This approach also diminishes the distance between horticulture and landscape architecture. For example, the lawnmower is no longer seen as a mere mowing tool but becomes a design tool for creating new paths in a flowering meadow. The pencil and ruler of the landscape architect find their echoes in the plants and brushcutter. The dialogue of creation does not stop when the ink dries on the paper; it continues to respond to the changing aspirations of users and the environment. In this sense, sustainable green space management allows for the reaffirmation of the link that unites landscape architecture with the dynamics of life.

*Excerpted from the article "La gestion différenciée des espaces verts | Vers la création d’écopaysage" by Jean-Michel Bédard and François Bienvenu, PAYSAGES - The Revue annuelle of the AAPQ No. 10, 2015.