Planning Abu Dhabi

An Urban History

Alamira Reem Bani Hashim

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351401531
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping

Abu Dhabi's urban development path contrasts sharply with its exuberant neighbour, Dubai. As Alamira Reem puts it, Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates since 1971, ' has been quietly devising its own plans … to manifest its role and stature as a capital city '.

Alamira Reem, a native Abu Dhabian and urban planner and researcher who has studied the emirate's development for more than a decade, is uniquely placed to write its urban history. Following the introduction and description of Abu Dhabi's early modern history, she focuses on three distinct periods dating from the discovery of oil in 1960, and coinciding with periods in power of the three rulers since then: Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1960–1966), Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1966–2004), and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (2004–). Based on archival research, key interviews and spatial mapping, she analyses the different approaches of each ruler to development; investigates the role of planning consultants, architects, developers, construction companies and government agencies; examines the emergence of comprehensive development plans and the policies underlying them; and assesses the effects of these many and varied influences on Abu Dhabi's development. She concludes that, while much still needs to be done, Abu Dhabi's progress towards becoming a global, sustainable city provides lessons for cities elsewhere.

Chapter 1
The Construction of an Urban Past

‘Ours is a long story, Abu Othman.’
‘Long. How much longer?’
‘Trust in God, man. All is well with the world.’
‘God only knows,’ he laughed sadly. ‘Hope for the best. No one can read the future.’

Abdelrahman Munif, 1989, Cities of Salt

Modern tales of Arab Gulf cities have left the notorious desert behind. In their place lie stories of glorified urban and architectural triumphs, powered by foreign and local investment, tourism and trade. The contemporary Arab Gulf city is described as having transformed from ‘rags to riches’ (Al Fahim, 1995) and from ‘sand to silicon’ (Sampler and Eigner, 2003), and is frequently referred to as an ‘instant city’ (Basar, 2003; Bagaeen, 2007; Moustafa et al., 2008).

The fallacy, however, behind these kinds of dualisms and descriptions is twofold. First, they suggest that prior to the discovery of oil, these desert cities were barren land, stripped of any kind of vegetation and lacking any signs of life. The premise underlying these descriptions is akin to the theory of tabula rasa, implying that development took place from scratch.¹ Second, they imply that these cities turned into sprawling metropolises overnight. Such connotation ‘evokes a sudden transformation from nomadic origins, characterized by constant movement, to an urban entity. These depictions underlie a certain dismissal: they are not “real”, but rather artificial creations fuelled by wealth generated from oil… They lack layers of history, which shape and characterize traditional settlements’ (Elsheshtawy, 2008a, pp. 258–259). Although cities in the Arab Gulf underwent development in a compressed period of time (in comparison to Western cities), they are not, and have never been, devoid of history or life.

The central misunderstanding, as Andrew Wheatcroft (1982) points out, lies in the word ‘desert’. The Arab Gulf, historically known as Arabia, was equated with a string of pejoratives such as ‘Forsaken, Abandoned, Uninhabited, Unpeopled, Desolate, Lonely, Uncultivated and Unproductive, Barren, Waste’ (ibid.). ‘In fact,’ he writes, ‘virtually nowhere was the country desert in this absolute sense … this barren land sustained a few cities and many towns, a profusion of nomadic tribes, and considerable internal trade’ (ibid., p. 3; emphasis in original). Moreover, the history of Arab Gulf cities is not defined by wealth generated from oil, which is a relatively recent discovery. These desert cities were in fact occupied by thousands of tribes for thousands of years, and throughout the years, a multitude of political, economic and social factors have impacted the transformation of the Arab Gulf city from a small desert village into a global entrepreneurial city competing on the world stage. In other words, the cities did not exist in a political and economic vacuum; rather, they are the result of a very purposeful vision of the power elite and their exercise of political will to lead their cities towards progress and modernity, and later, into the top echelons of the global economy. These local and external elements have, in turn, resulted in monumental changes in the cities’ urban form.

To date, Dubai has perhaps attracted most attention in the media and elsewhere on the urban development of the Arab Gulf region, which is not surprising, given that its unique urbanity and bold architectural projects are a curiosity for many.² This may also be due to the fact that Dubai has been ‘positioning itself as a gateway between the newly emerging centres of the East and the West, a “crucial staging post in the shift in economic power from the West to emerging Asia”…’ (Elsheshtawy, 2010, p. 3). Its mode of urbanism is a response to this positioning, prompting scholars, practitioners, policymakers and journalists from around the world to try to understand, and at times challenge, the mode of urbanism employed. Dubai’s metamorphosis is frequently hailed an Arab success story, and it has also become a source of great influence in the region – to the extent that the so-called Dubai Model has become an actual term, connoting the exportability of its particular mode of development (Koolhaas et al., 2010; Elsheshtawy, 2010). Critiques of the model include a series of references to spectacle – ‘Disneyfication’, Las Vegas and hyper-reality, and ‘the city as theme park’ (Lyne, 2003; Schmid, 2006; Davis, 2007; Dudley, 2007) – descriptions that have rendered Dubai artificial and superficial; as well as allegations that Dubai’s urbanism perpetuates urban segregation and inequality, and is relatively unsustainable (Eleishe, 2004; Bagaeen, 2007; Ali, 2010; Bani Hashim et al., 2010). Nevertheless, despite its critics, the Dubai Model has been eagerly replicated in neighbouring Arab Gulf cities and countries like Lebanon and Morocco (Elsheshtawy, 2010).

But while most Arab Gulf cities have simply chosen to reproduce the Dubai Model, the city next door has been quietly devising its own plans, and slowly coming out of its neighbour’s shadow, to manifest its role and stature as a capital city and to compete effectively on the world stage for investment, tourism and trade. Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates since 1971, is currently undergoing a massive urban transformation that largely contrasts with the mode of urbanism found in Dubai. It is this emerging Arab city that is the focal point of this research.³

There are many reasons why it is timely to reflect on Abu Dhabi at this critical moment in its life history. The death of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi from 1966 to 2004 and president of the United Arab Emirates from 1971, coupled with changes in real estate and property laws, as well as economic diversification strategies, has brought with it massive transformations to the emirate’s landscape. In an effort to expand the city’s economic base, nationals were permitted to sell government-granted land and a form of foreign ownership was introduced,⁴ moves previously prevented by Sheikh Zayed to counter real estate speculation (Elsheshtawy, 2008a). As a result, several new real estate development companies emerged with ambitious plans of varying scales for new construction and redevelopment within the City of Abu Dhabi and its surrounding islands. Unregulated, it was a free-for-all market for these private companies whose proposals were expected to reach build-out in ten to twenty years (Alahbabi, 2010). This troubled the Abu Dhabi government, as the former general plan for the city, prepared in the later 1980s, was not able to accommodate the type of growth and development that was being considered (Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, 2007a). Authorities were worried about having the same explosion of unmanageable growth as Dubai, and ‘watching the quality of their [citizens’] lives diminish dramatically in one generation’ (Hutchinson, 2009). Although awed by the success of Dubai’s property market, the leadership in Abu Dhabi was clear in its desire to develop in a more controlled manner. Abu Dhabi wanted to transform itself, but it did not want Dubai’s traffic, over-scaled projects and frantic development (Macdonald, 2007); therefore, it became imperative to find a way to regulate and guide the city’s urban expansion.

Since 2007 there has been a political will to regulate and direct the growth of the city, and in effect, a long-term vision for the city was created. That year, the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council (UPC) was established, and it was placed under the guidance of Larry Beasley, Vancouver’s renowned former planning director, and his consultants. Its primary mandate was Plan Abu Dhabi 2030: Urban Structure Framework Plan (later renamed Plan Capital 2030), a plan that was to act as a blueprint to guide the evolution of the city between 2007 and 2030. Key principles of the urban planning process are expressed in the plan, stating that Abu Dhabi will be a ‘contemporary expression of an Arab city’ and will continue its practice of measured growth to reflect a sustainable economy. It will also manifest its role and stature as a capital city, and will respect and be shaped by the natural environment. Furthermore, ‘Abu Dhabi’s urban fabric and community infrastructure will maintain and enhance the values, social and cultural heritage of the Arab community’ (Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council, 2007c).

In 2014, the original Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 underwent an extensive update. Several domestic and international influences necessitated its revision; these ranged from the impact of the global financial crisis to the increased emphasis on Emiratization as an underlying policy.⁵ These factors had a considerable impact on the rate of growth in the emirate. For example, numerous development projects that had been approved or were at the planning stage were changed, delayed, or postponed altogether. Also, land-use supply had not matched demand, leading to a general oversupply of some land uses and an undersupply of others. These and many other issues required that planners and major decision-makers in Abu Dhabi return to the drawing board, in order to explore new strategies for the way forward. Unfortunately, the updated plan has not been released and the reason for that has not been publicly disclosed. However, its concealment speaks volumes to the uncertainties and policy modifications that have gripped the city and its leaders over the last few years.

At the time of writing – ten years after the establishment of the UPC – the UPC no longer exists. It was merged with the three municipalities of the emirate of Abu Dhabi and it is now known as the Department of Urban Planning and Municipalities. While this has not really affected the overall vision for the city, it has streamlined the urban planning and development process to some extent and perhaps renewed some confidence. As will be discussed in this book, the process of urban development and the institutionalization of planning was not always straightforward.

The current planning scene in Abu Dhabi is curious to say the least: new projects have been constructed or are underway; the city is slowly expanding from the island onto the mainland, the hinterlands and surrounding islands; and the public and private sector are working together to design this liveable and sustainable version of the Emirati city. At the same time, those planning Abu Dhabi continue to grapple with the unusual conditions created for urban planning and design where there is a high proportion of non-nationals compared to Emiratis, and they have certain restrictions placed on them that limit their integration into society. This means that issues of identity, development and planning participation are complicated. Similar to Dubai, the global and entrepreneurial aspirations of Abu Dhabi have also depended on the global flow of labour and resources, and this has created an uneven social geography such as large spectacular developments that cater for tourists and luxury villas catering for high-income residents, surrounded by increasingly impoverished residential neighbourhoods or satellite labour camps (Krupar and Al, 2010). Abu Dhabi’s urbanism is also critiqued for being unsustainable, despite efforts to implement the principles of Estidama (the city’s equivalent to LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which is the most widely used green building rating system in the world) and the establishment of the Masdar Initiative for renewable energy exploration. Indeed, the massive growth taking place in the context of both a marine and desert ecology poses certain challenges.

Accordingly, Abu Dhabi’s emerging urbanity makes for a significant study, particularly as it is currently engaged in a long-term planning process to help guide its development in a more controlled way. Dubai is considered both a model city and a cautionary tale, which has offered those engaged in long-term visioning and planning in Abu Dhabi a reason for reflection and an opportunity to build selectively on the Dubai experience, reconfiguring some of the foundational elements of the Dubai Model in new and innovative ways, or, in some instances, disposing of those elements altogether. Abu Dhabi thus emerges as a valuable counterpoint from which to read alternative dynamics of urban development and urbanization in the Arab Gulf region.

The Scope of the Book

The book explores and documents the urban history of Abu Dhabi. The year 1960 – when oil was discovered in commercial quantities in Abu Dhabi – marks the beginning of this study. From that point, Abu Dhabi’s urban history is divided into three distinct periods that are framed around the leadership of the three different rulers who have been in power since 1960: Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1960–1966), Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (1966–2004), and Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (2004–2016).⁶ This framework is built upon the premise that each ruler had his own vision, philosophy and approach to the development of Abu Dhabi. Notably, each leader’s approach was the main influence on the direction of planning policy, acting as a major catalyst or inhibitor of urban growth and the transformation of the built environment. The culture of planning itself in Abu Dhabi also varied during these periods, although the dependence on outside or international experts to plan the city remained significant. Relying on archival research, key interviews and spatial mapping exercises, the intention of the book is to go beyond a typical historical narrative of sleepy village-turned-metropolis, to analyse the different developmental approaches of each ruler; to investigate the role and influence of a complex network of actors, including planning institutions, architects, developers, construction companies and various government agencies; to examine the emergence and use of comprehensive development plans and the policies and values underlying them; and to explore the spatial manifestations of these elements while keeping in mind the political and economic context of each period.

My investigation was underpinned by this central question:

How did the different visions and planning approaches of each of the three rulers, and their consultants and advisors, affect urban space?

Complementarily,

• How and why did Abu Dhabi’s urban form change over the three different periods?
• During each period, what kind of planning system was in place, and how did the design process work?
• What kinds of plans were drawn up for Abu Dhabi, and how did these evolve over time? How was the design style influenced, from whom/where? What theoretical models informed planning?
• How is this linked to global and regional influences? Did the values underlying these plans change, and if so, how?
• What was the role of urban governance and who were the various players involved?
• What factors have contributed to the change in orientation of the urban planning culture of Abu Dhabi between the mid-to-late 1990s and today?
• What are the economic factors driving this urban growth? To what extent do these policies relate to the globalization of the world economy and the flow of capital? How are culture, identity and heritage challenged or refashioned to respond to local as well as global conditions?

These questions may be translated into the following themes that then find their expression in each of the main chapters of the book (Chapters 3, 4, 5): vision of rulers; urban governance and role of planning institutions; plans of experts; and urban morphology.

To this end, my examination of Abu Dhabi is a morphological study as well as an inquiry into design processes and planning institutions. Anne Vernez Moudon (1997) considers urban morphology to be the study of the form of human settlements and the process of their formation and transformation. By examining the patterns of its component parts and the process of its development, one can begin to understand the spatial structure and character of a metropolitan area, city, town or village. In other words, urban morphologists analyse a city’s evolution ‘from its formative years to its subsequent transformations’ (ibid., p. 1). Here, urban morphology approaches the city ‘not as artefact but as organism, where the physical world is inseparable from the processes of change to which it is subjected. The focus is on the physical world as the result of dynamic social and economic forces’ (ibid., p. 9; emphasis in original). Moudon lists three purposes for the study of urban form via urban morphology. These are: (1) Descriptive or explanatory purposes, concerned with the questions of how and why cities are built; (2) Prescriptive purposes, focused on how cities ought to be built; (3) Assessment purposes, studying the impact of past design theories on city building (distinguishing between ‘design “as idea” and design “as practiced”’) (ibid., p. 8). The focus of this book reflects the first purpose.

Furthermore, I draw on urban theory from three major, interrelated fields to advance my understanding of Abu Dhabi’s urban development history. These are: (1) Arab Gulf oil c...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Chapter 1 The Construction of an Urban Past
• Chapter 2 From the Hinterland to the Coast: Origins of an Urban Identity (1761–1960)
• Chapter 3 Maintaining the Status Quo (1960–1966)
• Chapter 4 The Emergence of a Modern City (1966–2004)
• Chapter 5 Building the Global, Sustainable Arab Capital City (2004–2016)
• Chapter 6 Conclusion
• Appendix A: Methodology
• Appendix B: Interview List
• Appendix C: Al Nahyan Family Tree
• Appendix D: Abu Dhabi Areas Map
• Appendix E: New and Upcoming Developments (2004–present)
• References
• Index