Three Possibilities for Landscape Urbanism in Middle Eastern Cities

New ecological imperatives and discourses on sustainable and regenerative urbanism have induced changes in the approaches to landscape design. The discipline has evolved beyond its traditional boundaries, encompassing more socioeconomic and ecological functions, bridging architecture and urban design to become a foundation for nature-based design. This chapter presents landscape urbanism as an emerging paradigm that cities in the Middle East can learn from and appropriate. It examines significant landscape-urban interventions in three cities - Doha, Cairo, and Riyadh. The study identified three typologies of contemporary landscapes - edge, center, and backbone representing different types of urban interfaces. Doha’s Corniche (edge) acts as an interface between the city and the sea, and the Al-Azhar Park (center) operates as an interface between the formal and informal segments of the city. At the same time, Wadi Hanifa (backbone) represents an interface between the agricultural plains and the urban center. The multifaceted quality of landscape urbanism presents various possibilities to integrate the blue and the green into Middle Eastern cities. The examination embraces the idea that landscape urbanism can be utilized to understand the holistic nature of urban infrastructure, to invigorate social and economic improvements in the city, and more broadly, to be part of an ecological system.