Abu Dhabi is keeping people's well-being at the heart of urban life

A visitor at Wahat Al Karama in Abu Dhabi. The city is leaning towards walkable, mixed-use urban design. Getty images

In Abu Dhabi, building a world-class city has always meant prioritising people. The true measure of progress lies in how well cities support families to live, connect, and thrive. Guided by the leadership’s vision for inclusive development, the Emirate is reimagining urban planning and design.

From how young children learn, play, move, and interact, to the intergenerational ties that strengthen our communities, Abu Dhabi is embedding family well-being into the heart of urban life.

Cities around the world are exploring similar ideas, the intersection of urban design and early childhood well-being. In Bogota, Colombia, the Care Blocks initiative is transforming neighbourhoods with integrated services and play spaces for caregivers and children.

In Paris, planners are implementing the 15-minute city concept to bring schools, parks, and services closer to families, improving accessibility and community cohesion.

And in Melbourne, the Child Friendly Cities initiative prioritises safe walking routes, play opportunities, and access to nature as part of its broader urban development strategy.

Within the UAE, both Abu Dhabi and Dubai are advancing proximity-based planning models that hold significant potential to support early childhood development.

In Abu Dhabi, developments such as Masdar City embrace walkable, mixed-use urban design that supports daily movement, social interaction, and stronger ties to nature-key ingredients for building healthier, more connected communities.

Both Abu Dhabi and Dubai are advancing proximity-based planning models that hold significant potential to support early childhood development

While the foundational Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 introduced many of these people-centric planning principles, the emirate is now working on a new urban strategy aligned with its 2040 vision. This plan reflects Abu Dhabi’s evolving priorities as its population and economy continue to grow, placing even greater emphasis on liveability, accessibility, and integrated community spaces, particularly those that benefit families and young children.

In parallel, Dubai’s 2040 Urban Master Plan introduces a 20-minute city vision, with Expo City Dubai demonstrating how compact, connected urban environments can improve everyday quality of life. These efforts, when designed with families and young children in mind, lay the groundwork for healthier routines, safer mobility, and stronger caregiver-child engagement, all foundational to child well-being.

When urban spaces are built around the real needs of families, they become safer, healthier, more connected, and more economically resilient.

In Abu Dhabi, this means rethinking not just what we build, but how people live, move, and engage within their communities and ensuring that all family types, from new parents to multi-generational households, are central to every planning decision.

Translating this vision into reality demands a clear, shared framework for action. At the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, we work closely with our partners, including municipalities, departments, developers, and civil society, to promote urban planning and design approaches that prioritise safety, accessibility, walkability, inclusive public spaces, and healthy environments that support social interaction and cultural identity. These principles guide our efforts to create public spaces where families can thrive.

This vision has already taken root; with the pilot we conducted in Al Falah neighbourhood providing a first look at its real-world application. While Majlisna is just one small intervention within the larger regeneration of Al Falah, it illustrates how thoughtful, culturally attuned design can transform everyday life.

Rooted in the Emirati concept of the Majlis, a space for gathering, dialogue, and connection, Majlisna reimagines public areas through the lens of play. It uses play to promote active health and outdoor engagement, unlock opportunities for intergenerational connection and create meaningful experiences that honour Emirati identity.

Through data-driven observation which informed design and intergovernmental collaboration, Majlisna demonstrated how even modest interventions can activate public life, strengthen community bonds, and lay the groundwork for a more inclusive, family-friendly city.

After introducing Majlisna, we observed a threefold increase in children’s presence, a 97 per cent rise in diverse active play opportunities, and a 42 per cent decrease in adult screen time, all pointing to deeper parent-child engagement and a renewed use of public space. The success of this pilot has since encouraged the rollout of additional Majlisna play public spaces across other neighbourhoods in Abu Dhabi.

This underscores effective urban planning and design must go beyond structures and surfaces

That’s why Abu Dhabi is pioneering a new form of data-informed design. Through partnerships with different institutions, we are gathering public life data, not just to count how many people use a space, but to understand how they behave and engage with it, who they’re with, and what those interactions mean for community well-being. Our benchmarks include the presence of young children, the diversity of play, caregiver-child interaction, and inclusivity for People of Determination and senior citizens, real indicators of a city’s social health.

The opportunity before us is not only to build better cities, but to nurture healthier and more connected societies where every public space encourages movement, supports positive habits, and strengthens our relationship with nature. What we design today will influence how communities live, grow, and care for one another tomorrow. This shared responsibility must guide the way we shape our streets, public spaces, and services, ensuring that they promote the long-term flourishing of our families and communities.