Dubai, UAE, January 16, 2023:  Dubai Municipality has opened the registration for the Most Beautiful Green Front Yard Competition that aims to promote aesthetic gardening culture and encourage people to preserve and care for the beauty of their residential areas by utilising outdoor spaces and planting in front of their homes. This initiative aligns with the Municipality's goals to encourage social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and community involvement.

Registration Period
Registration is open until February 28, following which a period will be allocated for the yards to be prepared and applications to be finished. Following evaluation, winners will be declared in April 2023. Winners of the contest will get prizes of up to AED 100,000 (AED 50,000 for the first place, AED 30,000 for second, and AED 20,000 for third).

The Municipality has further established guidelines for participation. These prerequisites include: the property owner or tenant must be a resident of the Emirate of Dubai; obtaining a no-objection certificate from RTA to cultivate in the area in front of the house; participant approval for jury visit and photography of the garden site; participant approval for publishing pictures and videos on social media channels and on various other media; and registering for the competition through the Dubai Municipality website. The application for registrations are available at www.dm.gov.ae.

Participation Criteria
Dubai Municipality has set certain criteria for evaluating the participants. The first is related to the aesthetics of the design, so that the plant and non-plant elements are consistent, varied, and of different lengths and colors in an aesthetic way, in addition to the availability of night lighting. While the second criterion from the technical side provides for the employment of creative ideas, the use of innovative techniques and unconventional scientific methods, and the provision of a sustainable irrigation system that does not affect service lines and pedestrian traffic.

In order to maintain the aesthetic design in terms of harmony and homogeneity in design lines and type of elements and variety of length and colour of plant and non-plant elements and nightlights, Dubai Municipality has also established assessment standards to examine the applications. Furthermore, the Municipality will ensure that the technical features that utilise original concepts, innovative tools, cutting-edge technologies, unconventional scientific approaches, as well as a sustainable irrigation system do not interfere with services or pedestrian mobility.
The third factor that the Municipality will consider is the environmental element, which includes preserving environmental sustainability through rational use of water and the use of renewable energy. This aspect further specifies the effects of vegetarian foods, trees, and cultivating local plants. The fourth criterion emphasises the social aspect of a yard's appeal for recreation or agriculture.

The competition aims at promoting aesthetics of streets and green areas by encouraging the community to care for front yards, along with boosting the demand for plants from the nurseries and usage of recycled water.