{"id":428487,"date":"2025-09-16T09:04:18","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T09:04:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/428487\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T09:04:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T09:04:18","slug":"gensler-reveals-visuals-of-baghdad-sustainable-forests-masterplan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/428487\/","title":{"rendered":"Gensler reveals visuals of Baghdad Sustainable Forests masterplan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Architecture studio <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/gensler\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gensler<\/a> has released visuals of an urban\u00a0district it has designed for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/baghdad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Baghdad<\/a>, Iraq, which will be set within an extensive forest with one million trees.<\/p>\n<p>Named Baghdad Sustainable Forests, the masterplan is conceptualised by the studio as an &#8220;ecological and urban district&#8221; for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/tag\/iraq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Iraq<\/a>&#8216;s capital city, encompassing a 10-million-square-metre forested site.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2247304 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gensler-baghdad-sustainable-forests-iraq_dezeen_2364_col_7-852x479.jpg\" alt=\"View over Baghdad Sustainable Forests in Iraq\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1330\"  \/>Gensler has designed an urban district in Baghdad<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gensler.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gensler<\/a>, Baghdad Sustainable Forests replaces a former military campsite that has been holding more than 45 million tonnes of waste.<\/p>\n<p>It will include landmark towers alongside residential, retail and commercial spaces, surrounded by parks, green corridors and one million trees.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2247300 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gensler-baghdad-sustainable-forests-iraq_dezeen_2364_col_3-852x426.jpg\" alt=\"Towers to be built in Iraq by Gensler\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1182\"  \/>Landmark towers will feature in the development<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Baghdad Sustainable Forests reimagines over 10 million square metres of neglected land as a new ecological and urban district, with forests, parks, and green corridors forming the backbone of the design,&#8221; said Gensler&#8217;s global director of cities Ian Mulcahey.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The vision is to restore the land, create thriving mixed-use villages, and position Baghdad as both a catalyst for local regeneration and a global model for urban resilience,&#8221; he told Dezeen.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The project will become a beacon for the rebirth of one of the most ancient cities in the world,&#8221; added\u00a0senior associate Glenn Wilson.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2247306 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gensler-baghdad-sustainable-forests-iraq_dezeen_2364_col_9-852x479.jpg\" alt=\"Tree-planted Baghdad Sustainable Forests development in Iraq\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1330\"  \/>The development will be planted with one million trees<\/p>\n<p>Forests and green corridors will occupy most of the expansive site and will be interspersed with a series of mixed-use &#8220;lifestyle villages&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>These villages will provide 1.5 million square metres of retail and commercial infrastructure to serve as hubs for education, leisure and business.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/08\/28\/snohetta-jesselton-docklands-coastal-development-malaysia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"191\" height=\"191\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/snohetta-jesselton-docklands-waterfront-district-borneo-sq_dezeen_2364_col_2-191x191.jpg\" class=\"excludeLightbox wp-post-image\" alt=\"Jesselton Docklands by Sn\u00f8hetta\" decoding=\"async\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"  \/><\/p>\n<p> Sn\u00f8hetta designs waterfront district to echo mountain landscape in Borneo\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Shaded streets and plazas will be designed to accommodate walking, cycling and e-scooters, and will carve through the site to connect the hubs.<\/p>\n<p>A sequence of gateways will demarcate Baghdad Sustainable Forests, including the 260-metre-tall Al Rasheed Gateway tower and the River Gateway, which will reopen a stretch of the river Tigris to the public.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2247301 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gensler-baghdad-sustainable-forests-iraq_dezeen_2364_col_4-852x480.jpg\" alt=\"People walking around public space within new district by Gensler\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1332\"  \/>There will be shaded walkways and plazas<\/p>\n<p>Renders of Baghdad Sustainable Forests reveal the Al Rasheed Gateway will have a curved form that tapers towards its peak, raised on a round-edged square base.<\/p>\n<p>Other key landmarks will include The National Pavilion, which is set to rise 110 metres and become a &#8220;civic symbol of renewal&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>There will also be a series of themed forests, including the Arts and Culture Forest, the Health and Wellness Forest, the Kids and Entertainment Forest and the Sports and Fitness Forest.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2247303 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/gensler-baghdad-sustainable-forests-iraq_dezeen_2364_col_6-852x479.jpg\" alt=\"Outdoor view of mixed-use district by Gensler\" width=\"2364\" height=\"1330\"  \/>Streets are designed to encourage walking<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Transforming this neglected land into a living forest district turns a symbol of environmental damage into one of renewal,&#8221; Mulcahey said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Forests and green corridors make up the majority of the site,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;Some areas will remain wild to foster biodiversity, while others will provide trails, plazas, and gardens for daily community use.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Other masterplans recently featured on Dezeen include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/08\/28\/snohetta-jesselton-docklands-coastal-development-malaysia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a waterfront district designed by Sn\u00f8hetta to echo the mountain landscape in Borneo<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dezeen.com\/2025\/06\/23\/khalid-bin-sultan-city-masterplan-zaha-hadid-architects-sharjah\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Khalid Bin Sultan City in Sharjah by Zaha Hadid Architects<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The renders are courtesy of Gensler.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Architecture studio Gensler has released visuals of an urban\u00a0district it has designed for Baghdad, Iraq, which will be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3939],"tags":[4021,4020,146134,4022,77,117439,10470,136784,137399,60336,126129,126130,126131,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-428487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-baghdad","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-gensler","14":"tag-iraq","15":"tag-landscape-and-urbanism","16":"tag-masterplans","17":"tag-mixed-use","18":"tag-sectionall","19":"tag-sectionarchitecture","20":"tag-sectionnews","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115213177480010075","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}