Beautiful landscaping.
One of the things done very well in Dubai is the landscaping in many of the streets. It’s a harsh desert environment so greenery and water feature prominently, but flowers are being used more and more.
This is one of the main roads, Al Wasl Road, running parallel to the coast from the outskirts of the city through residential areas to ‘New Dubai’. Date palms are obviously a feature, being native to the area, but the other plants, and the grass, certainly aren’t.
It’s certainly pretty, but doesn’t it seem like a waste of water to attempt to grow these non-native species in the middle of, as you put it, a “harsh desert environment?” I don’t think it’s as odd as building golf courses in the middle of deserts, but I’m not sure that the aesthetic value holds up in your basic cost/benefit analysis.
Then again, I don’t live there… Maybe it’s worth it to residents? Something to break up that harsh climate?
Justin