The site for this new city of one million inhabitants stretches along the Khor Abdallah inlet connecting Basra to the Gulf. The landscape master plan builds on the site ecology (a third of the site area is an estuarine sabkha and tidal flatlands), that is protected as a natural heritage and wildlife habitat. A network of green areas is proposed that includes neighborhood, community, district and city parks and sports serviced by cycling paths and navigable canals that connect the Khor Abdallah with the protected wetland landscape. The landscape vocabulary is sustainable environmentally, rooted in the distinct character of rural south Iraq with date palm orchards in the core and xeric landscapes at the peripheries.
Source: Jala Makhzoumi
