Sustainable Urbanism: Towards Edible Campuses in Qatar and the Gulf Region

As University Campuses worldwide are striving to become more sustainable and resource efficient, some are beginning to also develop the concept of the Edible Campus, which includes implementing spaces to grow food within the University Grounds. These initiatives are first and foremost to provide the users with healthy and sustainable food, but also to educate the University population about the production of food and the resources involved. Producing food on a campus not only reduces the food print, that is the energy that is required to bring the food from distant fields to the plate, but also allows more efficient resource use and recycling, for example the recycling of organic waste as compost and the use of grey water in irrigation. Dormant lands – green fields – can be used to produce crops, and decorative landscapes can be converted into productive landscapes with food and medicinal plants. Edible boulevards are constructed with fruit bearing trees, and can still have urban and climatic functions of providing shade. A permaculture approach to food production can also contribute to increasing biodiversity on the campus, with careful combinations of plants that repel harmful insects but attracts multiple species. So, How can the concept of Edible Campus be applied in Qatar and the Gulf Region, in a dry land climate? This research looks at the different practices and modes of producing food in dry lands and proposes an application at Qatar University campus. It builds on previous research on Food Urbanism in Doha, and on a prototype Edible Boulevard and Edible Rooftop Garden being implemented at the College of Engineering.