Regional landscaping lost its way, says Green Concepts principal

Regional landscaping is frequently over the top and lacking a clear destination, one of the region’s leading landscape experts has claimed.

Speaking at the recent Building Sustainability into the Middle East conference at Abu Dhabi, Geoff Sanderson, principal at regional landscape firm Green Concepts, said the region had ‘lost its way’ when it came to the design of outdoor spaces.

“We have a mixture of the population [here] that makes designing or planning the designing a very confused process,” he said.

He said designers need to take the time to understand the way people need to live here because of the climate.

“The roots of the country are best expressed in old cities like Jeddah where you’ve got very narrow streets that are shaded so the micro climate of the public space has already a degree of comfort without having to add anything else to it. The orientation of those streets actually drew air into them. They knew how to do it but I think we’ve lost our way,” he said.

Advertisement

FEATURED COMMENT Please click here to comment on this article

Sanderson added that it concerned him that a lot of landscaping in the region is ‘over the top’ and pointed to places like Place des Vosges in Paris, France with its sand and shade trees as an example of a more pared down but functional form of landscaping.

He criticized regional landscaping as frequently being what he termed ‘landscape salad’, and without shape or form.

“A lot of the parks and public landscapes I see have no clear destinations, they are almost amorphous. That has to be a first priority,” he said.

The key, according to Sanderson, is a greater understanding of the community. “Sustainability must not only mean the pragmatics…but [also] making sure that the community is well served and that we understand not only who is going to live in our cities but how they are going to live,” he said.

Sanderson was speaking during a panel discussion at the ITP-organised event, which took place November 30 in Abu Dhabi.

Established four years ago, Green Concepts is one of the largest landscape architecture practices in the UAE. Its project portfolio includes the Dubai Creek extension and Aldar’s Al Raha Beach in Abu Dhabi.
 

---