4th Middle East Smart Landscape Summit Begins Today

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, April 25, 2016: Transforming Dubai through innovative sustainable landscape architecture, design and planning stands at the heart of the two-day Middle East Smart Landscape Summit that began today at Sofitel Dubai The Palm Resort & Spa. Held under the patronage of Dubai Municipality, and organized by global conference producers, Expotrade, the summit in its fourth year, addresses topics focusing on green infrastructure, and sustainable projects to explore new techniques in landscape architecture and design.

H.E. Essa Al Maidoor, Deputy Director-General of the Dubai Municipality along with H.E Engineer Mariam Mohammed Saeed Hareb, Assistant Undersecretary, Ministry of Climate Change & Environment inaugurated the summit in the presence of other high officials and VIPs from the Embassies.

Fatma Al Sulaimani, Landscape Designer, Dubai Municipality opened the summit with a session on Sustainable Landscaping for the Region of Dubai. Emphasizing on the need for sustainability, her presentation stated, ”Dubai becoming a sustainable city is no longer a choice, it has become a necessity.” Her session was followed by a presentation on Innovation in Landscape by Ahmed Obaid Al Qaseer, Chief Operating Officer, Sharjah Investment and Development Authority.

The summit features more than 25 regionally and internationally recognized speakers such as Leo Alvarez, Principal, Perkins+Will; Paul Reynolds, Urban Designer & Chartered Landscape Architect, Atkins; Eamonn Byrne, Principal Landscape Architect, EBLA and Jason Turner, Manager – Landscape Architect and Urban Design, GHD speaking on Landscape Architectural Strategies for improving Pedestrian Comfort in the Middle East; Digital Landscape Architecture; Planting Design for the Smart City in the 21st Century and Finding our place in the world respectively.

Elena Lazareva of Ithara Group delivered a session on Play4all, an urban planning concept that uses “destination parks” to engage young and old in outdoor activities, while Profile Products Joe Betulius spoke on How to turn Native Sands into Ideal Soils for Desert Plants. Day 1 of the summit also witnessed Robert Rye of Marmara International Landscaping presenting a session on Bio-Filtration as a Sustainable Solution in Usage of Treated Water.

The panel discussion titled Bright Ideas for Smart & Sustainable Outdoor Landscape Lighting Systems saw experts Masato Kametani, Lead Landscape Architect, Parsons; Saleh AlMakhdoum, Head of Parks Unit, Dubai Municipality; Soufyane Miloudi, Vice President & Managing Director, Aubrilam Group; Steven Velegrinis, Director of Urban Design, Perkins+Will and Martin Valentine, Lighting Expert, Abu Dhabi City Municipality participate in an interactive discussion.

Mr. Brad Hariharan, Regional Director, Expotrade Middle East, said, “Our summit provides an interactive forum to seek sustainable solutions, gain insights from the experts on new landscape design architecture techniques, technologies, processes and opportunities. Our summit has been designed in line with Dubai Municipality’s vision to transform Dubai into a green city. We are grateful to Dubai Municipality for their continued support.”

Over 25 leading solutions providers including Ithara Group, Polyclean Turf Division, Profile Products, Marmara International Landscaping, The Glow.Pro Company, Rain Bird, WT Burden and Zeoplant, to name a few, showcased their innovative solutions at the summit’s exhibitor lounge.

Day 2 of the summit will see global experts deliver enthralling presentations on topics entitled Greenspaces 2.0, Designing Public Open Space in the Global Context, Meeting the Client’s Landscape Aspirations on a Design Build Contract, amongst many more along with a case study presentation on lessons learned from Latin- American cities.