Landscape Middle East - May 2025
As we enter the ‘hot season’, this issue of Landscape Middle East Magazine brings into focus a subject that resonates more urgently than ever: the intersection of nature, community, and the evolving built environment. From global design visions to local planting strategies, each piece in our May edition contributes to a growing dialogue about how landscapes can do more than decorate, they can define how we live, gather, and grow.<br><br>We begin with a conversation on human-centred design in Designing for Nature and Community, featuring Diane Hoskins of Gensler on page 4. Her call to reimagine urban landscapes as places of belonging and environmental restoration could not be timelier, echoing the theme of this year’s Landscape Middle East Awards, “Nature and Community.”<br><br>On page 26, our feature Rooted in Resilience explores the elegant practicality of native planting and water-wise design in the UAE. As climate resilience becomes a defining imperative in landscape practice, these insights ground us in strategies that are both ecologically and culturally attuned.<br><br>Over in the UK, the RHS Chelsea Flower Show reminds us of the poetry possible in sculptural design. In Sculptural Simplicity Meets Classical Symmetry, British artist David Harber’s new pieces are set within a garden that offers not just aesthetic pleasure but contemplative calm, a vision as relevant to London as it is to the landscapes we shape here in the Middle East.<br><br>Closer to home, our piece Why Water Fountains Still Matter revisits the role of water in public life, not just as spectacle, but as a sensory and social connector. From cooling microclimates to ambient gathering points, fountains are finding renewed relevance in today’s urban vocabulary.<br><br>In Layers of Simplicity, Gin Wingfield’s reimagining of a private outdoor space showcases how restraint and refinement can coexist with biophilic intent. This modern oasis underscores how design can reflect lifestyle, not impose upon it.<br><br>Finally, our op-ed Rethinking Real Estate Development in Dubai challenges conventional success metrics in the region’s booming property sector. Thomas Wan of Refine makes a compelling case for a shift towards feasibility-driven, sustainability-conscious development, one that places long-term livability at the heart of the city’s ambition.<br><br>We hope this issue inspires you to think beyond trends, beyond aesthetics, and to consider how every decision in landscape design, from plant palette to planning philosophy, contributes to something larger: our shared story of place, purpose, and progress for the region.
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