Globalisation has both positive and negative effects on education and practice in landscape architecture, and was the central theme of a recent conference held at the St Petersburg State Forest Technical Academy. This is not a review of the conference itself, but rather a reflection on the issues that motivated it. The recent shifts in the political climate of Russia have created an arena in which both the positive and the negative effects became very apparent in terms of landscape architecture. It was the very spectre of the negative aspects of globalisation that inspired the conference theme, combined with the potential to enhance some of the positive aspects of international connectivity.