“Dubai 2020 Urban Masterplan”: A Smart Approach to Sustainable and Competitive Urban Planning

Background Information

Since 1950, Dubai’s population has grown a hundredfold from a small town of 20,000 inhabitants to 1.9 million inhabitants (as estimated in 2010), while its urban area has extended rapidly to approximately 400 times its original size.

The rapid development of Dubai encountered a major challenge in 2008 with the global economic downturn. In response, the Dubai government took the opportunity to restructure its resources and economic strategy. The need to review the urban planning of the emirate was clear as some mega projects had to be deferred or put on hold, while the emirate’s infrastructure networks required more consolidation.

Goals of the Initiative

Key to the project was defining a preferred spatial direction and form that reflected the emirate’s needs and growth to 2020, while enabling immediate possibilities for public and private investment to achieve sustainable growth to 2020 and beyond.

The project seeks to optimize existing government infrastructure investments; rationalize integrated land use and mobility; protect key economic assets; and be flexible and responsive to environmental challenges and constraints, and to socio-economic transformations.

Parties and Partners to the Initiative and Resources Used for Implementation

Following the direction of The Executive Council (TEC) of the Dubai government, the project was prepared by the Dubai Urban Planning Steering Committee in conjunction with the services of the consultant AECOM Middle East LTD during the period July 2010-July 2012. The committee included the following parties:

•Dubai Municipality (DM);

•Roads and Traffic Authority;

•Dubai Electricity and Water Authority;

•Dubai Civil Aviation Authority;

•Dubai Maritime City Authority; and

•Dubai Land Department.

The following parties and stakeholders also participated:

•The Dubai Master Developers ( Emaar, Nakheel, Meraas, etc);

•Other relevant government departments and agencies;

•The Dubai Government Statistics Team; and

•DM relevant departments.

A team from the Planning Research Section/Dubai Municipality was responsible for the daily technical coordination and management of the project.

The resources used for implementing the initiative include:

Funding is provided by the Dubai government. The professional and managerial resources involved in the preparation and management of the project are mentioned in item (3) above.

A Supreme Urban Planning Council (SUPC) to be established as recommended by the project and adopted by the TEC. The role of the SUPC is to streamline the plan–making and urban planning process at strategic and policy level.

The project proposes that Dubai Municipality should implement the project under the directions of the SUPC and in conjunction with the relevant government departments and master developers.

Innovation for the Initiative

The project initiatives may be considered as evolutionary and revolutionary.

The innovations in Dubai follow the rules of “changing challenge into opportunity”. In this project, the innovation is applied in:

•The strategic spatial planning approach for the entire Emirate, including defining the urbanization parameters within land and sea at metropolitan and regional levels.

•Preparing the planning governance and legislative framework including promoting a “Supreme Urban Planning Council”.

In spatial planning, the comprehensive context overview and analysis of the existing situation may be considered as a borrowed method; but defining the urbanization parameters and the spatial structure planning constitute an inspired innovation that is unique to Dubai.

In terms of planning governance, a comparative study with selected world cities was carried out related to the planning system adopted by each city. Dubai benefited from the study and recognized the need to set out a planning system that considers the major three components of managing spatial planning, including:

•Strategic planning and plan-making;

•Statutory planning, and urban and environmental management; and

•Development control and place-making.

Dubai considered such components and created a planning governance framework that is more responsive to Dubai’s specific governance requirements and that complements the current planning system.

Obstacles and Solutions for Innovation

The main obstacles may be summarized as follows:

•The forecast of the growth of Dubai’s hybrid population, of which 90 percent are expatriates, and their residency is mostly linked to their employment and to the challenging economic situation and growth.

•The forecast of economic growth and market conditions beyond 2008.

•Dealing with the development of the mega projects that were affected by the economic downturn after 2008.

•Defining the desirable planning system that can best respond to Dubai’s context.

The following trends were considered in overcoming the obstacles:

•To overcome the socio-economic challenges, the project considered three scenarios: low growth, medium growth, and high growth. A consensus was reached on medium growth, with consideration toward high growth.

•The staging and prioritizing of mega projects were considered in conjunction with Dubai government trends and the master developers in order to streamline development.

The project promoted a new planning system that respects the current organizational structure of existing government departments and the semi-governmental master developers companies. It considered three options that addressed the promotion of an efficient planning process and governance framework. The desirable option as adopted by the TEC was to establish an "Urban Planning Supreme Council" (UPSC). 

Outcomes and Assessments

Outcomes achieved are as follows:

Reflecting the vision for Dubai and the challenges and opportunities for sustainable and competitive urban transformation, a number of strategic actions were defined and incorporated into the project to achieve the following:

•Protect and facilitate economic opportunities.

•Define urbanization growth limits,

•Consider flexibility for growth where required.

•Consolidate the urban form and development projects by capitalizing on prevailing infrastructure and mobility, and conserve the natural systems.

•Facilitate social needs, especially housing and community facilities.

•Broaden accessibility and mobility.

These issues reflect the anticipated desired broad outcomes of the project at the emirate scale-level.

Dubai already has a well-established regional and global image. It is anticipated that further changes and outcomes will be perceived during this decade (up to 2020).

Since mid-2011, Dubai achieved successful international benchmarks related to social and economic dimensions.

Also, many Dubai government departments have taken advantage of the project as a guide and commenced preparing strategic actions such as the property investment map, the education facilities map, the green strategy, the sewerage and irrigation master plan, the review of mobility infrastructure, energy diversification, etc.

Promoting the project through international exhibitions and conferences may also continue to contribute to the image of Dubai.

Assessments are as follows:

The project encompasses 42 indicative benchmarks to be achieved by 2020. The benchmarks were prepared in conjunction with the stakeholders and classified into five categories as follows:

•Competitiveness

•City structure

•Sustainability

•Social sustainability

•City culture

The Dubai 2020 Urban Masterplan and the Benchmarks were prepared to guide the corporate strategic/business plans of the relevant government departments.

The TEC monitors the annual performance of each department.

Methods Applied

The project has developed a comprehensive Spatial Structure Plan (covering the urban and regional areas including the offshore islands). It has also promoted key tools to facilitate the implementation of the Spatial Structure Plan and achieve the desired outcomes. These include:

•A planning governance and legislative framework. This includes establishing a “Supreme Urban Planning Council” (SUPC) that streamlines the emirate’s urban and environmental planning process taking into account sustainability and competitiveness.

•A recommended Planning & Environment Law/Act to define planning authorities and responsibilities, and facilitate the planning process; and

•A recommended urban and environmental management plan to facilitate the implementation of the 2020 Strategic Spatial Structure Plan.

Benefits to Other Cities

The initiative to consolidate the urban form (by capitalizing on prevailing infrastructure and mobility, and conserve the natural systems) is considered a sustainable approach to spatial planning.

The project identified three urban development scenarios, and the “Compact City” Scenario was selected as the preferred basis for spatial urban development. The scenario reflects the substantial capacity within the broad limits of Dubai’s existing urban area to support further growth, and this is considered an opportunity to improve the cost-effectiveness of future growth. The compact city option also entails several important benefits, including:

•Facilitating short-term growth through the incorporation of selected project sites within previously planned areas.

•Providing a strong basis for the longer term development of a coherent, low-carbon urban form.

•Optimizing Dubai’s prevailing infrastructure, including the consolidation of existing mixed-use activity centers.

•Maximizing the preservation and integration of important natural and cultural landscapes as inherent features of Dubai’s urban character.

•Minimizing the consumption of land and resources for urban growth, and in doing so maximizing Dubai’s longer term flexibility to respond to new growth demands as these emerge.

Consequently, knitting urban growth areas and major infill sites into a cohesive city structure was considered to ensure new growth is cost-effective and coordinated with the outlay of public infrastructure, mobility and services. This has taken into account the following issues:

•Direct new growth towards corridors and centers that support the efficient delivery of transportation, housing and services.

•Optimizing opportunities for new development and infill within and around transit nodes where appropriate by concentrating densities around metro stations and encouraging the intensification of areas with spare capacity for growth.

•Provision for an appropriate distribution of activity centers, community facilities, and public open spaces.

•Provision of land use that supports traditional industry sector strengths and protecting major economic assets.

•Ensuring the provision of a balanced housing market to respond to changing demographic trends and social demands.

Consolidating the urban form has also considered the responsive long-term environmental implications of growth including:

•Limiting new offshore development to allow for the preparation of a comprehensive approach to marine and coastal management.

•Establishing an emirate-wide integrated public and natural open space network that promotes livability; and protecting natural space and its assets and resources (important desert, agricultural and equestrian landscapes, water bodies and marine environment and related buffers, conservation areas for marine and terrestrial habitats, the aquifer zone, and the mineral extraction zones within the Dubai Emirate).