Coastal Parkway

Gouron, Iran. 2023 to present.

The Gouron coastal parkway is designed as a community path, a safe and enjoyable trail and meeting place for villagers and tourists. It also aims to make public participation in the design, use, beautification and management of environmental resources easier.

The plan connects the village shore and its roads for residents’ commute and easy access to the beach, with speed reducers and signage for safety, and new recreational facilities, including spaces for biking, all-age and all-ability accessibility, and rest and conversation stations along the pedestrian walkways.

The design preserves traditional structures, ponds and water channels and uses surface water for irrigation. Environmentally, the design involves visitors and the community in reusing wood from the invasive mesquite tree, called Pakistani or Bahraini Kahoor in the local dialect, to build road dividers. Mesquite has spread abundantly across Qeshm Island and is one of its most hazardous species.

By making the cutting of these trees and their transformation into landscape elements along the coastal road a continuous program, we aim to start an eco-friendly process. After the first phase is installed, with visitors taking part and learning about the tree’s harm, the program will grow into an ecotourism initiative.