Dubai’s plan for scores of new community spaces aims to encourage people to reconnect with nature and each other, the deputy chief executive of Dubai Future Foundation has said.
Abdulaziz Al Jaziri, also chief operations officer at the foundation, said the scheme – known as “Hewi Dubai” – aims to bring back the concept of shared public spaces that was once commonplace for people in Dubai several decades ago.
Speaking at the Urban Future Week on Tuesday, Mr Al Jaziri said that each space would be different and address the needs of the community it serves.
“These are pocket parks around the city that can become part of everyone's daily life,” Mr Al Jaziri told The National on the sidelines of the event at the Museum of the Future on Tuesday.
“I think that's what we hear from people moving into Dubai and being part of Dubai – that the park is no longer part of [a] daily routine,” he said. “We want to bring that back to our society as people want to be connected to nature.”
The scheme was launched by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, in May to revive the spirit of traditional Emirati neighbourhoods.
The Hewi (front garden of a home) scheme aims to create safe public spaces that improve community life and boost social interaction.
The initiative is a collaboration between Dubai Municipality and Dubai Future Foundation and the first space is scheduled to open in January at Nad Al Sheba 4. At least 10 are planned across Dubai next year.
“We realised most parks barely use 10 per cent of their size,” said Mr Al Jaziri. “So how do we use 100 per cent of the land we're given – and that land that we have is between a school and a mosque and within a specific neighbourhood?" he added, referring to Nad Al Sheba.
Teams studied what people wanted in the neighbourhood such as how many go to the mosque, how they access it and what they need from the park.
They then devised was a place where elderly Emiratis can meet; an indoor and outdoor space that can be used for community events, classes and workshops that people can book; and a cafe because the neighbourhood lacks a restaurant.
“People want to be able to walk outside, be more active and meet more people from their community,” said Mr Al Jaziri. "Hopefully this delivers on that.
“And because it's a park between two larger parks, we started designing the walkways to these parks so you can walk all around the neighbourhood in a nice walkable area and then have three options."
The spaces are intended to be small and the long-term vision is to have one within walking distance of every Emirati home.
Much of the research was conducted by the foundation’s Dubai Design Lab, which looks at the needs of society. Teams visited parks across the UAE and looked internationally to learn more about what worked and did not – even conducting workshops with children to learn what they liked in a park.
“We went to parks that didn't work and we went to parks that really worked well," he said.
And what came back was that people want safety “even in the safest city in the world”; people look for Emirati values to be visible in parks; and for them to be designed to bring the community together.
“We wanted this to become part of the routine of everyday life,” said Mr Al Jaziri. "You don't worry about your kids going there. You don't have to take them. They can walk towards it. Each one will be researched very differently to understand the demographic of the space.”
Work has stepped up in recent years to make Dubai a more liveable city. The emirate's 2040 Urban Master Plan called for developing a “20-minute city”, giving residents access to 80 per cent of their daily needs and destinations within 20 minutes by foot or bicycle.
Dubai is also set to become a more pedestrian-friendly city, with more than 3,000km of new pavements in plans announced last December.
In a city known across the globe for mega-projects and towering skyscrapers, this small-scale scheme offers huge potential in transforming the day-to-day experience of those who live in the city.
But Mr Al Jaziri believes this park project goes back to the root of what people wanted in our cities.
“Today you don’t know your neighbour,” he said. But he referred to how in the historic area of Al Shindagha on Dubai Creek, for example, there were public spaces where everyone knew each other. “We want that again.”
