ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I evaluate the practice of the urban professions in Dubai against the United Nations’ (UN) and the International Federation of Landscape Architects’ (IFLA) goals for cities and design practice, respectively. Collectively, these direct practitioners to create sustainable, equitable and culturally enriching environments. Through a comparison between the designed landscapes I analyzed in earlier chapters and the goals of the UN and IFLA, it becomes clear that what is happening in Dubai presents a significant discrepancy between principles and practice. In this chapter, I argue that, as the ‘handmaidens’ of global capital, the urban professions in Dubai (often) struggle to reconcile landscape design practice with pressing environmental, societal and cultural issues. This situation is, in part, because the urban professions are a service industry and, to survive, must acquiesce to the demands of client developers. These developers often promote urban developments that degrade the desert environment and actively target Dubai’s wealthy residents and visitors while excluding lower classes. This chapter explores this situation, not to pass definitive judgement on the urban professions, but to understand the complexity of this situation.
