Welcome to the inaugural issue of our quarterly electronic magazine. Through a small group of articles, we touch on topics not fully aired and resolved elsewhere connected with periodic online debates. This issue re-ignites the debate on the need for a magazine to offer something new and for the profession to examine its identity.Topically, it touches on the way forward for our countryside and the value of green space; illustrates the importance of observational drawing; and the international and humanitarian agendas.We have had a debate on our higher education and future ones are planned on, among others, tree cover strategies and landscape and visual guidelines.