Jala Makhzoumi, “Landscape, Garden, and a Colonial Legacy”

Join us for the 2024 Aga Khan Program Lecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Jala Makhzoumi’s search for a grounded language on landscape architecture relies in great part on the search for Arabic terms that capture the complexity of the layered English meaning of “landscape.” Until then, Makhzoumi argues, we must contend with inadequate translations—and sometimes transliterations—that reduce “landscape” to scenery and narrow the professional scope of the landscape architect to urban beautification. Moving away from the “borrowed” landscapes in cities, we encounter “rooted” conceptions in rural cultures. These ideas have endured over time and are in tune with the regional ecology and cultural values. Can these examples inform and inspire contextualized landscape architecture in the Middle East and beyond?

This event will take place in person and via livestream on the GSD website.

It is co-sponsored by the GSD and The Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University.

Host or Publisher Harvard University Graduate School of Design