Designing for food security in a dryland metropolis: Investigating productive landscapes in Doha

Abstract

This paper address the questions of Food Security in Qatar, and looks at how the disciplines of design can participate in creating "productive landscapes" that contribute to Qatar s food needs. Qatar is an arid country which relies on imports for the majority of its food supply, and on desalination for its potable water. Productive urban landscape is a concept integrating food-growing into the design of cities through public and private open space, taking advantage of disused or underused sites and optimizing a city s resources. This research being carried out at Qatar University engages students in research on food urbanism and its application in Qatar, so that they are better trained to integrate spaces for growing food into their design projects. As it is generally believed that nothing edible grows in Qatar, the initial phase of the research was a series of case studies of examples of residential food growing being undertaken by individuals or communities in Qatar to document what grows, and how it is being grown. Faculty and student researchers collaborated with a local NGO specialized in permaculture in the Middle East to develop a prototype food garden at the University Campus that was designed, by the students and implemented by the students as a trial. The objective was to gain practical knowledge that can be applied in the student design projects for productive landscapes and to introduce the concept and practice of edible landscapes into the design curriculum.