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Jala Makhzoumi

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Jala Makhzoumi (Arabic: جالا مخزومي; born 1949) is an Iraqi landscape architect, currently serving as an adjunct professor at the American University of Beirut. She has also taught architecture and landscape at a technology University in Baghdad for approximately 15 years.She researches subjects within landscape design, including sustainable urban greening and postwar recovery strategies. Makhzoumi has co-authored books such as Ecological Landscape Design and Planning: The Mediterranean Context and The Right to Landscape. In 2023, she was elected vice president of the International Federation of Landscape Architects.[1] She is the Middle East Chapter president of the IFLA.[2] Makhzoumi's also co-founded "UNIT44", a Lebanon-based design and planning practice of landscape and urban design, and landscape architecture.[3]

Early life and education

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Born in Iraq in 1949 to a Kurdish mother and Lebanese father, Makhzoumi grew up in Baghdad and spent most of her summers in Lebanon, specifically Dhour El Choueir. [4] She joined the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Baghdad in 1971, where she studied architecture. While studying, Makhzoumi took interest in the relationship between ecology and design. Upon graduation, she moved to the United States to attend Yale University, where she received a master's degree in environmental design. [5]

Research, career, and activism

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After graduating from Yale, Jala returned to Baghdad where she taught environmental sciences at the University of Technology for fifteen years. During this period, Makhzoumi researched the intersectionality of ecology and landscape, with a primary focus on vernacular settlements and practices invoked by local Iraqi communities. However, Iraq witnessed two substantial wars: the Iran–Iraq War, which severely influenced Makhzoumi's ability to travel, and the first Gulf War of 1990, which forced her to relocate from Iraq. This was when she decided to pursue a PhD at the University of Sheffield and complete her dissertation in landscape architecture.[6]

Whilst in the United Kingdom, Makhzoumi developed a ecological landscape methodology and applied it to the context of Northern Cyprus. Her work intersected heavily with that of Gloria Pungetti, an Italian scholar and landscape architect, which eventually led them to publish two books: Ecological Landscape Design and Planning (1999) – and later on, The Right to Landscape (2016).[6] In 2001, Makhzoumi joined the American University of Beirut where she co-founded the BS in Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management, where she worked as both a professor and program coordinator from Fall of 2001 to Spring of 2007.[7]

Makhzoumi was involved with the "AREC Rural Technology Park: Climate Change and Sustainable Livelihoods in Lebanon" project.[7] and worked with a team from AUB[clarification needed] to revive the Erbil Inner Green Project after being neglected due to security reasons.[8][9] The proposal for the Erbil Inner Greenbelt aimed to curb the expansion of the city and unchecked urban development, enhance the local microclimate, and provide a recreational landscape for residents.[10]

Her work as an activist includes advocating for Dalieh of Raouche to be a public space for local communities in Beirut in the post-Civil War era of Lebanon, and protesting against other types of private development.[11]

References

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  1. ^ "Jala Makhzoumi elected as IFLA Vice President". International Federation of Landscape Architects. 2023-12-18. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  2. ^ "IFLA Middle East and Landscape Middle East Magazine". International Federation of Landscape Architects. 2023-05-05. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  3. ^ "Archnet > Authority > Jala Makhzoumi". www.archnet.org. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  4. ^ Jala Makhzoumi | عراقيون - مقابلة مع جالا مخزومي, retrieved 2024-03-21
  5. ^ Wong, Emily (1 Oct 2021). "Landscapes of recovery: Jala Makhzoumi". Landscape Australia.
  6. ^ a b Halawa, Ahmed (2021-03-11). "Jala Makhzoumi: A Landscape Architect in a Race to Stop Desertification". Al-Fanar Media. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  7. ^ a b "Dr Jala Makhzoumi named awardee of Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe Award 2021". American University of Beirut. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  8. ^ Webneoo. "Jala Makhzoumi's race against desertification". www.takreem.net. Retrieved 2024-04-17.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ "Jala Makhzoumi announced as speaker at IFLA 2024 World Council". International Federation of Landscape Architects. 2024-02-26. Retrieved 2024-04-22.
  10. ^ "Archnet > Site > Erbil Inner Greenbelt". www.archnet.org. Retrieved 2024-04-17.
  11. ^ Wong, Emily (1 Oct 2021). "Landscapes of recovery: Jala Makhzoumi". Landscape Australia.