By Dr. Atumye Amos Alao

In a quiet but significant shift, the Lagos State Parks and Gardens Agency (LASPARK) has begun formally engaging landscape architects to support its core mandate of developing and managing parks, gardens, and public open spaces.

This is more than a commendable hiring decision. It is a step others can learn from.

LASPARK’s work directly shapes how Lagosians experience the outdoors every day. These are the spaces where families gather, children play, and communities breathe. They influence public health, urban cooling, flood resilience, and overall wellbeing. Delivering on this mandate demands more than routine maintenance. It requires ecological insight, design expertise, and long term planning, the very competencies landscape architects bring.

For too long, however, the profession has remained on the margins of Nigeria’s public sector. Despite rapid urban growth and mounting environmental challenges, landscape architects have had limited formal pathways into federal and state institutions. The consequences are visible in many cities. Open spaces that fail to deliver intended health or social benefits, and projects approached without integrated environmental thinking.

LASPARK’s move begins to close this gap. By bringing trained landscape professionals into its planning and operations, the agency is aligning its actions more closely with its own goals of a greener, healthier Lagos. It demonstrates leadership and institutional foresight, recognising that quality public space is not a luxury, but foundational infrastructure for livable cities.

The opportunity now extends nationwide. Many government agencies, from urban development and environmental management to infrastructure and public works, intersect directly with landscape architecture. Yet across many institutions, this expertise remains absent.

If Nigeria is serious about building resilient, inclusive, and sustainable cities, this must change. LASPARK has shown it can be done.

At the Society of Landscape Architects of Nigeria (SLAN), we welcome this development and stand ready to partner with governments at all levels. Our members possess the expertise to strengthen the planning, design, and stewardship of public spaces across the country.

Safety, sustainability, and wellbeing are not managed after the fact. They are designed from the beginning.

This is not merely about professional recognition. It is about creating safer environments, healthier communities, and cities that truly work for people.

LASPARK has taken a decisive step.
Others now have a clear example to follow.

Dr. Atumye Amos Alao is President, Society of Landscape Architects of Nigeria (SLAN)