Delicate politics and female contributions: Complementary perspectives on the founding years of the IFLA network

The book, IFLA, Past Present, Future, edited by George L. Anagnostopoulos, Hans Dorn, Michael F. Downing and Heiner Rodel (2000) often labelled ‘The Green Book’, set out the institutional history of the Federation at the time of its 50th anniversary. The publication is an essential resource for anyone who wants to learn more about how the Federation and its committees developed, about its extensive international collaborations, and its presidents. As this edition of ‘The Green Book’ is published to celebrate the IFLA’s 75th anniversary, the question arises: is there still something we don’t know about the IFLA’s history? This question is particularly pressing at a time, when the role of landscape architects could not be more important to tackle the climate and biodiversity emergency and contribute to a meaningful ‘healing’ of landscapes from the devastations of war. Our goal in this chapter is to build on the original Green Book and explore the areas we think deserve further research to reach a more complete and nuanced understanding of the Federation’s history. For that, we return to IFLA’s initial ideas and goals, because some of them are relevant again, today and in the coming decades. We focus on the dynamics and backstories of the Federation’s founding by taking a closer look at three topics: post-war politics regarding countries like Austria, and the professional and informal role of women in the network.