Jala Makhzoumi
Iraqi landscape architect
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jala Makhzoumi (Arabic: جالا مخزومي; born 1949) is an Iraqi–Lebanese landscape architect, academic, and activist. She taught architecture and landscape for 15 years at the University of Technology in Baghdad.[1] Makhzoumi helped found the Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management program at the American University of Beirut, where she serves as an adjunct professor.[2][3] Her research includes landscape design, sustainable urban greenery, and post‑war recovery strategies. She has co‑authored several books, including Ecological Landscape Design and Planning: The Mediterranean Context and The Right to Landscape, which examine landscape and human rights.[4] In 2023, she was elected vice president of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA).[5] She is president of the IFLA Middle East Chapter.[6] Makhzoumi is also a co‑founder of UNIT44, a Lebanon‑based design and planning practice in landscape architecture and urban design.[7]
- Academic
- landscape architect
Jala Makhzoumi | |
|---|---|
| جالا مخزومي (Arabic) | |
| |
| Born | 1949 (age 76–77) |
| Education | |
| Occupations |
|
Early life and education
Makhzoumi was born in Iraq in 1949 to an Iraqi Kurdish mother and a Lebanese father. She grew up in Baghdad and spent summers in Dhour El Choueir, Lebanon.[8] In 1971, she enrolled in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Baghdad to study architecture.[9] After graduation, she moved to the United States to attend Yale University, where she received a master's degree in environmental design.[10]
Research, career, and activism
After graduating from Yale, Makhzoumi returned to Baghdad, where she taught environmental sciences at the University of Technology for 15 years.[7] During this period, she researched the intersection of ecology and landscape, focusing on vernacular settlements and practices used by local Iraqi communities.[11] The Iran–Iraq War limited her ability to travel, and the first Gulf War of 1990 forced her to relocate from Iraq.[12] After relocating, she pursued a PhD at the University of Sheffield and completed her dissertation in landscape architecture.[12]
While in the United Kingdom, Makhzoumi developed a method for ecological landscaping and applied it in the context of Northern Cyprus.[12] She collaborated with Gloria Pungetti, an Italian scholar and landscape architect.[12] Their collaboration led to two co‑authored books: Ecological Landscape Design and Planning (1999) and The Right to Landscape (2016).[12] In 2001, Makhzoumi joined the American University of Beirut (AUB), where she co‑founded the Landscape Design and Ecosystem Management program, serving as both professor and program coordinator from 2001 to 2007.[13]
Makhzoumi was involved with the “AREC Rural Technology Park: Climate Change and Sustainable Livelihoods in Lebanon” project.[13]
While in Lebanon, she worked with a team from AUB to revive the Erbil Inner Green Project, however AUB did not proceed with the project, possibly for security reasons.[14][15] In the proposal for the Erbil Inner Greenbelt, AUB aimed to curb the city’s expansion, limit urban development, enhance the local microclimate, and provide a recreational landscape for residents.[16]
Makhzoumi has participated in efforts to designate Dalieh of Raouche as a public space for local communities in Beirut after the Civil War as well as in protests against its private development.[11]