Contemporary Urban Landscapes of the Middle East

The Middle East is well-known for its historic gardens that have been shaped and developed in two millenniums since the pre-Islamic era. The role of urban landscape projects in Middle Eastern cities has grown in prominence, with a gradual shift in emphasis from gardens for the private sphere to an increasingly public function. These contemporary landscape projects, either designed as public plazas or public parks, have played a significant role in transferring the modern Middle Eastern cities to a new era and also to transform to a newly shaped social culture in which public has a voice. Gharipour considers what ties these projects to their historical context, and what regional and local elements and concepts have been used in their design.

Mohammad Gharipour is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Planning at Morgan State University in Baltimore, USA. He obtained his master’s in architecture from the University of Tehran and his Ph.D. in architecture and landscape history at Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. He has received several fellowships and awards and published six books including Persian Gardens and Pavilions: Reflections in History, Poetry and the Arts. He is the founding editor of the International Journal of Islamic Architecture.