From urban beautification to a holistic approach: the discourses of ‘landscape’ in the Arab Middle East

The English word and Western idea of landscape was introduced during the colonial restructuring of Arab cities in the early decades of the twentieth century. Thereafter, landscape came to be understood predominantly in the context of urban modernity, associated with the Western picturesque tradition adopted in landscaping municipal parks and public urban spaces. The formal conception that prevails today precludes a broader appreciation of landscape as a source of livelihood, the fabric of lived-in experiences and collective identities, just as it reduces the scope of landscape architecture, an emerging profession in the Arab Middle East, to urban beautification. Inspired by the integrative and community-centred conception advanced by the European Landscape Convention, this paper argues for a holistic landscape approach that contributes to development while responding to regional environmental and ecological constraints. The methodology of ecological landscape design is applied to secure a holistic reading of people and place and to engender integrative solutions that address socio-economic, environmental and heritage concerns. A selection of projects are cited to demonstrate the potential of a holistic approach in changing current limited perceptions of landscape and in expanding the discourse of landscape in the region beyond the current focus on appearance and beautification.