Dr Fatma Mhmood is an architect, urban designer and researcher from the UAE whose  work is situated at the intersection of rapid urbanization, desert landscapes, gender, and postcolonial studies. Fatma completed her PhD in architecture at the University of Cambridge in 2026. Her doctoral research explored cultural constructs of nature in the UAE context and women’s embodied experiences of outdoor recreational landscapes. Her research adopted an interdisciplinary approach bringing together landscape history, postcolonial and feminist theory, and ethnographic work.

 

Fatma’s approach is grounded in an ethic of care and an understanding of the reciprocal relationship between people and the land. Through her work, she aims to integrate cultural histories and people’s lived experiences to contribute to the understandings of a climatically and culturally appropriate landscape architecture within the Arab Gulf region.

 

Fatma lectured and supervised courses within the History and Theory sequence at the University of Cambridge and acted as an undergraduate dissertation supervisor. She also served as a visiting lecturer at London South Bank University, where she taught undergraduate architecture studio and the foundation module: communicating ideas. Fatma published articles in peer-reviewed journals, engaging with the themes of sensory landscapes, cultural constructs of nature, and representations of the desert landscape. 

 

Prior to her doctoral studies, Fatma completed a Master in Design Studies (MDes ’21) with a concentration in Urbanism, Landscape and Ecology at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. Her master’s thesis focused on developing a critical understanding of fullness in the Empty Quarter desert and questioning binary constructions of desert and green. At the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Fatma worked as a research assistant at the Office For Urbanization and the Critical Landscapes Lab.

 

Alongside her academic experience, Fatma has professional experience in the fields of architectural design and development. While in New York City, she worked as an architectural associate at Latent Productions, where she contributed to the projects: Greylock Works and SEED. Before moving to the United States, Fatma worked as an architect at Emaar Properties in Dubai in the hospitality development department. She also worked as an intern architect at Dominique Perrault Architecture in Paris and WS Atkins in Dubai. Fatma holds a Master of Architecture and Urban Design (MSAUD ‘18) from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of architecture (BArch ‘13) from the American University of Sharjah.