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Damascus, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, has historically been defined by its rare and precious relationship with water and green space. As a city that thrived in a semi-arid context, its agricultural hinterlands and inner gardens provided not just food and shade, but identity and resilience. Today, this delicate urban ecological balance is deteriorating under pressures of unplanned urbanization, informal growth, war-related displacement, and systemic planning deficits.
The Green Oasis in Historical Context
From antiquity through the Islamic Golden Age and into the Ottoman and French Mandate periods, Damascus evolved through a deeply rooted interplay between built form and cultivated green. The Barada River and the surrounding Ghouta oasis shaped a continuous green belt that moderated climate, supported food security, and created spatial generosity within one of the densest parts of the Eastern Mediterranean.
- Hellenistic and Roman planning integrated irrigation and orthogonal urban layouts.
- Islamic city-making reinforced the courtyard house as a microclimate engine.
- The Ottoman era marked a decline in public stewardship, with increased land privatization.
Despite these shifts, the persistence of traditional forms—shaded courtyards, permeable surfaces, and canal systems—preserved a form of climatic intelligence that many modern developments now lack.
Over the past century, however, the unchecked expansion of Damascus has steadily eroded this green legacy. Rural migration, coupled with weak regulatory enforcement and outdated land tenure systems, encouraged the proliferation of informal settlements, many of which replaced previously cultivated land. The Ghouta region, once the city’s ecological buffer, is now critically diminished—its fertile soils increasingly paved over by spontaneous and unplanned urban sprawl.
From Ecological Harmony to Green Erosion
Over the last century, the expansion of Damascus has steadily consumed its green peripheries. Rural migration, compounded by weak regulatory enforcement and outdated land tenure systems, encouraged informal settlements—many of which now sit on formerly agricultural land.
Source: Google Earth
Following the war beginning in 2011, this dynamic intensified. Conflict displacement created enormous pressure on housing, often met through spontaneous and unregulated construction. The Ghouta region, once the city’s ecological buffer, has been significantly reduced. Satellite imagery reveals the extent of degradation, with formerly fertile plots replaced by haphazard structures and unplanned road networks, consuming the city’s agricultural hinterlands and eroding its ecological legacy.
Quantifying the Crisis
The environmental and urban consequences of green loss are measurable and alarming:
- Green space per capita: just 0.3 m² in Damascus (versus WHO minimum recommendation of 9 m²).
- Groundwater depletion: over-extraction and pollution from unregulated industries have severely compromised aquifer health.
- Urban heat island effect: exacerbated by impervious surfaces, reduced vegetation, and high-density developments with minimal shading.
- Air quality and respiratory illness: directly linked to loss of vegetation cover
Urban Design, Governance, and the Informal Paradox
Today, nearly one-third of the city’s population lives in informal areas—zones that challenge traditional planning mechanisms. These districts often lack not only green space, but also basic services, sanitation, and public institutions. Yet they also represent organic urbanism, where adaptability and community solidarity endure.
A forward-looking planning approach must reconcile formal and informal paradigms. Urban planners, landscape architects, and policy makers should co-create solutions that acknowledge informal settlements not as problems to be erased, but as sites for upgrading, greening, and inclusive transformation.
Marota City and the Challenge of Reconstruction
Reconstruction efforts like the Marota City project—designed as a luxury enclave—highlight a troubling trend: prioritization of profit-driven development over ecological or cultural continuity. Despite its modernist facades and dense urban form, Marota City is disconnected from traditional Damascene values of shade, privacy, and greenery.
Such top-down mega-projects risk alienating local communities and reinforcing socio-spatial inequality. A more balanced approach would integrate green infrastructure, participatory design, and cultural continuity from the outset.
Reclaiming the Green Future: Strategies for Damascus
“A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”
Greek Proverb
Recovery is not a return to the past, but an intelligent evolution. Our research proposes a multi-scalar, interdisciplinary approach that redefines green space as critical infrastructure:
1. Urban Policy Reform
- Introduce enforceable green quotas for all new developments.
- Designate peri-urban agricultural zones as protected ecological assets.
- Align zoning codes with climate adaptation targets.
2. Green Infrastructure Integration
- Develop connected systems of green corridors, pocket parks, and riparian restoration.
- Use landscape design to manage stormwater and mitigate heat.
- Promote the use of native, drought-resistant vegetation.
3. Participatory Environmental Stewardship
- Empower community-based urban farming and greening initiatives.
- Establish school and mosque gardens to reconnect youth with ecology.
- Create platforms for NGOs and local government to co-lead ecological recovery.
4. Cultural Resilience through Architecture
- Revive the Damascene courtyard typology in contemporary housing models.
- Use traditional passive cooling techniques (wind catchers, vegetation shading).
- Rehabilitate heritage gardens and public squares.
Climate Change and the Urban Green Imperative
As Damascus confronts intensifying droughts and extreme temperatures, urban green becomes not a luxury but a necessity. Trees and parks cool cities. Green roofs reduce energy demand. Agricultural land can absorb carbon and support food sovereignty.
In the context of post-conflict recovery, green space also offers psychological and social healing. It creates places of encounter, reflection, and renewal—essential in cities marked by trauma and rupture.
Planning the Invisible: Ethics, Ecology, and Urban Equity
Beyond numbers and metrics, the future of green space in Damascus is an ethical imperative. Who has access to shade, water, and clean air? Whose spaces are prioritized, and whose are erased? These are questions not only for designers, but for society at large.
The planner’s role must evolve from technical expert to mediator of values. This means designing not only with data, but with empathy, historical awareness, and ecological foresight.
Conclusion: From Vulnerability to Vision
The story of Damascus’s green spaces is a tale of missed opportunities and enduring potential. Amid rapid change and reconstruction, there is a chance to redefine the city’s identity around ecological intelligence and urban justice.
At Hasanen Architects, we believe green space is the foundation of meaningful urban recovery. It is where the city breathes, where communities gather, and where cultural memory takes root. In designing the future of Damascus, our challenge is not merely technical—it is to build a living, green legacy for generations to come.
“This article is part of RE:VIEW, Hasanen Architects’ platform for research, ideas, and future-facing design.