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Whatever Happened to Dubai's Public Spaces?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2018

Khaled Alawadi
Khaled Alawadi*
Affiliation:
Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Program, Masdar Institute, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; e-mail: kaalawadi@masdar.ac.ae
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Extract

As an ambitious city aspiring to become a major contributor to and player in the global world, Dubai often tends to be endeared to and affected by grand-scale urbanism and skyscraper skylines. The recent practice of architecture in Dubai is replete with examples of architectural monuments and miraculous constructions. Whilst the architectural feats required to raise grand structures for global branding and economic strategy are noteworthy, many other facets of urbanism also warrant adulation and exploration. One example is the narrative of human-scale urbanism—the pedestrian-driven places that put people at the center of the town. Due to its human-scale nature and morphology, the quotidian landscape, more than other existing settings, such as those modeled on “bigness” and dispersion successfully narrates a clear story about the essence of everyday urbanism: the nexus between the physical and the social, and the architecture and everyday life of the city's urban spaces. Life and culture in the UAE have evolved drastically, but in old communities where the quotidian landscape is still palpable, it has stayed the same—simple, open to everyone, and full of animation and affection.

Type
Roundtable
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 50 , Special Issue 3: Environment and Society in the Middle East and North Africa , August 2018 , pp. 562 - 567
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

NOTES

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