Biography

Jette Abel (b. 1937) Danish landscape architect mdl and Honorary Member of IFLA Europe – The European Region of the International Federation of Landscape Architects.

She has an impressive portfolio of teaching activities, association work and meetings, bearing witness of both involvement, insight and competence.

Jette Abel is the daughter of insurance agent Carl Erik Abel and teacher of domestic science Irma Johanne (b.) Jensen. In 1958 Jette Abel graduated as a mathematics graduate student from Marie Krauses School. After graduation she left to Paris in the late summer to work as an au pair. Jette Abel lived in Paris for a year in the sixth arrondissement, dominated by the beautiful Jardin du Luxemburg, and attended French lessons at Alliance Française.

Once back in Denmark, Jette Abel started her studies at The Royal Danish Horticultural Society’s School for Landscape Gardeners in Frederiksberg. In 1960 she was accepted at The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen (KVL) on the Landscape Gardener Program and graduated in 1964 together with seven other candidates as cand.hort. Following,she was hired as a research assistant at KVL and received Queen Ingrid’s Roman Grant for a three-week residency at the Danish Academy in Rome.

In 1968 Jette Abel passed Filosofikum (philosophy course dealing with the basic problems of the theory of science) at The University of Copenhagen and was appointed associate professor with responsibility for the classes in The History of Garden Art and Installation Types. Besides teaching the History of Garden Art she taught contemporary installations such as open spaces; parks; schools; allotment gardens; cemeteries etc. She continuously participated in landscape architecture congresses in the Nordic countries and was course supervisor on study trips for the students. In 2000 Jette Abel taught as a guest lecturer in both Tartu (Estonia) and Haifa (Israel), while she that same year was sent as out as an expert/technical advisor to Öland in Sweden regarding the admission of the Southern part of the island to the UNESCO World Heritage list under ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites). The Southern part of Öland was admitted and ever since this unique agricultural landscape has been on UNESCOs list. From 2002 to 2009 she also served as head of The Danish Horticultural Society.

In the summer of 2004 Jette Abel resigned from her position as lecturer at Forest and Landscape, KVL. Jette Abel was appointed as honorary member of IFLA Europe and were in 2015 presented IFLA Europe’s Honorary Diploma from former president of The Association of Danish Landscape Architects, Karin Sejr, at a special event at the Danish Architecture Center.

Through her long professional life Jette Abel has contributed considerably to the international co-operation within the field of landscape architecture. From 1982 to 2001 she participated in a number of IFLA congresses, ICOMOS & EFLA meetings (today IFLA Europe). These were activities that took Jette Abel across the continents, from Canberra
(Australia) and Boston (USA) to Ocho Rias (Jamaica).