DR JALA MAKHZOUMI

Adjunct Professor of Landscape Architecture
American University of Beirut

In her practice, research and teaching, Jala explores place responsive, community driven and ecologically embedded design. She has co-authored Ecological Landscape Design and Planning, and The Right to Landscape. Her expertise includes ecological planning, landscape heritage conservation, sustainable urban greening and post-conflict recovery. She is president of the Lebanese Landscape Association and co-founder of UNIT44 consultancy, based in Lebanon. 

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Photo credit: Tara Jaffar

OVERCOMING A COLONIAL LEGACY: THE DISCOURSE OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE IN THE MIDDLE EAST 

The word ‘landscape’ was introduced as part and parcel of the colonial transformation of Middle Eastern cities. Today, the prevailing understanding of landscape continues to be informed by these parameters, the meaning of ‘landscape’ narrowly construed to imply urban beautification. Beyond cities, national borders imposed by Western colonisation disrupted cultural and ecological continuities. The colonial legacy came to undermine cultural values and social practices that were responsive to the ecology and environmentally sound. Historical and cultural ruptures hinder the development of a culturally-rooted conception of ‘landscape’ and deny the potential of landscape architecture, an emerging profession, in framing environmental, social and political problems. In my talk, I will explore paths taken to overcome these limitations while addressing the global concerns of climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Drawing on examples from rural and urban landscapes, I hope to share insight into the early development of a contextualized discourse on landscape architecture in the region.