MENA Logbook #1 - Exploring. Collaborating... and now Cultivating
MENA Logbook is a bi-weekly update by Ahmed Salem, Director of LAND MENA, tracing his journey across the Middle East and North Africa — exploring, collaborating, and cultivating landscapes, partnerships, and ideas.
Berlin – Milan – Cairo – Riyadh. Four cities. One transition.
January moved fast: Berlin, Milan, Cairo, Riyadh in four nights. Not a tour, but a shift. Each stop marked the closing of one chapter and the beginning of a new journey for LAND MENA.
Berlin | Closing a chapter in a shifting Europe
I had been moving between Berlin and Milan since the year began, wrapping up what had become the “Berlin chapter” while preparing for what comes next.
At a time when global conversations were questioning Europe’s momentum and the stability of international alliances, my own movement was less political and more structural: shifting south and east because that’s where our next phase of work, partnerships, and projects is taking shape.
Frozen Lake near Berlin
Milan | Reconnecting with the core of collaboration
From the air, Milan shows itself clearly. Infrastructure becomes visible, a vaste urbanized territory without many equals in Europe that I know of – roads, urban clusters, green pockets forming a dense osmotic ecosystem.
The city had already been my base for most of January. Nearly two weeks of close collaboration with the team, preparing what lies ahead: project frameworks, strategy sessions, and many long conversations with Jens Hoffmann and Andreas Kipar about how to leverage the start of the year to build momentum.
And of course, there was the daily pranzo — a convivial moment reminding me that progress happens through people, not just plans.
Lunch with LAND’s Administration Team in Milan
Cairo | From community to home, then forward
My stay in Cairo was brief but grounding. A few hours to handle formalities, see the Nile, and reconnect with the feeling of being home — before turning east again.
Tahrir Square
Riyadh | Entering the next growth frontier
Riyadh welcomed me late at night — windy, warm underneath, and already full of energy. The final stop of a journey along four cities, four cultures, four climates, four different operating realities.
Construction progress at Al Urubah Park, February 2026. Render ©LAND, photo ©Green Riyadh
Straight at it. A first site visit to Al Urubah Park, a lighthouse project within Green Riyadh‘s Program, set the tone. At 75 hectares, this is not just a park. Sand, stone, leisure, water management, young trees, biodiversity — a huge construction site with all its complexity, surprisingly familiar to Europe.
Jens Tippel, Lawand Barazi, and myself at Al Urubah Park currently under construction
After reconnecting with Lawand Barazi and meeting Jens Tippel (bödeker) on site, I headed straight into the rhythm of the city and LAND MENA office in Al-Takhasussi meeting the Design Guardian for Architecture, Vincent Pepe, from SCHIATTARELLA ASSOCIATI.
Building momentum
The week then took a boost in broadening my network in the capital of the Kingdom.
At IFAT Saudi Arabia, which opened conversations around waste, circularity, and environmental infrastructure, I was glad to meet familiar faces such as Dr. Dalia Samra-Rohte (AHK Saudiarabia) and Rakan AlGaraawi (Ministry of Investment). I also collected inspiring insights from Saudi Water Authority Innovation Center platform focused on applied research and education.
Panel at IFAT Riyadh
Speaking of research and innovation, Data Center Nation 2026 offered plenty food for thought on future-ready infrastructure and reliable partnerships, crossing paths with BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT (Germany), meeting Mohammed Al-Atheri from WZMH Architects, the leaders for Data Center Construction in Canada.
It was a great opportunity to get to know Fabio Lassini and Riccardo Festante from Montana S.p.A., long-standing partners of LAND, with whom I visited both fairs and shared thoughts on our joint Competence Center. An initiative from LAND and Montana to foster exchange between Italy and the Middle East, learning from each other’s expertise.
Fabio Lassini, myself, Mohammed Al-Atheri, Riccardo Festante
As Knight Frank MENA notes,
“Saudi Arabia is now the fastest-growing data center market in the Middle East, with live IT capacity up to nearly 30% to 109 megawatts since the start of the year.”
You can feel that growth in the room, in the partnerships forming, and in the scale of ambition.
Energized by these new inputs, I went for a second visit to Al Urubah Park, going deeper into the technical layers where Montana provides the expertise for water features.
Lawand Barazi, Fabio Lassini, Riccardo Festante, and myself
Eastbound | Where global work meets personal roots
As I drove east toward Dhahran, leaving Riyadh’s density behind and heading home to my parents, I followed a long, familiar road that always points forward — the end of a long week already setting the tone for what’s ahead.
The street I grew up in
Just today I received an invitation from Randa A. Mahmoud, Dean of Architecture and Design at Prince Sultan University, to take part at the Third International Conference on Sustainability, Development, and Innovation in early February. The right note to end my first week in my new home.
An opportunity of continuity, exchange, and the intention to cultivate relationships across regions, disciplines, and Nature.
