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Eden in Iraq: a wastewater design project as bio-art—a confluence of nature and culture, design and ecology, in Southern Iraq marshes

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Abstract

Eden In Iraq is an environmental design and water remediation project in the marshes of southern Iraq using design and wastewater as bio-art, to create a restorative garden for education, cultural memory, and contemplation. Earmarked for a 20,000 m2 site at Al Manar in the marshes between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, near a probable site of the historic Garden of Eden, Eden in Iraq is a project that brings, art, design, and technology together with culture and history. Drawing on Islamic and Mesopotamian traditions originating in this historically and symbolically charged region, the Eden in Iraq Waste Water Garden is designed to be a syncretic container for ecological and cultural restoration and heritage after the time of war. This paper looks at this project from three inter-related activities, namely, treatment of wastewater suitable for growing a large scale garden, design of the garden starting from the Islamic garden design principles and thirdly, reviving the cultural heritage of the pre-Islamic, Mesopotamian art in contemporary forms.

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Notes

  1. Ancient near Eastern Cylinder Seals Acquired by the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1963–1973 Author(s): P. R. S. Moorey and O. R. GurneySource: Iraq, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Spring, 1978), pp. 41–60.

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Art, Design, and Media, Nanyang Technological University, 81 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637458, Singapore

    Meridel Rubenstein & Peer Sathikh

  2. School of Sustainabiity, Arizona State University, Temp, AR, USA

    Meridel Rubenstein

  3. Institute of Ecotechnics, Santa Fe, NM, USA

    Meridel Rubenstein

  4. Nature Iraq NGO, Iraq

    Meridel Rubenstein

  5. London, UK

    Meridel Rubenstein

Authors
  1. Meridel Rubenstein
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  2. Peer Sathikh
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Correspondence to Meridel Rubenstein.

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Rubenstein, M., Sathikh, P. Eden in Iraq: a wastewater design project as bio-art—a confluence of nature and culture, design and ecology, in Southern Iraq marshes. AI & Soc 36, 1377–1388 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-020-00967-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-020-00967-3

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