Why landscape should begin at masterplan stage

When landscape is brought in after the masterplan, it inherits decisions it cannot change: levels that flood, corridors that cannot hold trees, shorelines already hardened. When it begins with the masterplan, those decisions become design material.

Our work on whole-city strategies in Mauritius comes down to two words: integration and adaptability. Before anything is drawn, the existing elements are read — rural character, micro climates, ecologically sensitive zones — and kept as assets rather than cleared as obstacles.

At Azuri that meant a general landscape strategy for the whole city developed alongside entrances, road reserves, flood parks unique in Mauritius, a shoreline with its mangroves, and the area around a historical limekiln. At Anahita it meant reading the ruins first: amphitheatres formed around existing structures, irrigation canals marking entrances, old stone ponds kept as key water features.

Landscape strategy at masterplan stage is not decoration delayed. It is where movement, ecology, water and public space are fixed — and everything that follows becomes cheaper to resolve.