scholarly journals A Few Steps Away yet Worlds Apart: A Closer Look at Changing Streetscapes in Abu Dhabi

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdellatif Qamhaieh
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Abu Dhabi ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
City Branding ◽  
Rapid Pace ◽  
Urban Upgrading ◽  
The City ◽  
City Planners

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, continues to change at a rapid pace in response to city branding efforts. Significant investments in the city’s urban infrastructure and its built environment are widespread, as Abu Dhabi attempts to compete on the world stage and lure in tourists, corporations, and investors alike. City planners have been busy updating the city’s urban spaces and streetscapes. They have been transforming it into a sleek and modern contemporary Arab city with a ‘high-end’ feel – which has been successful thus far. As a result, Abu Dhabi’s name has become synonymous with luxury, and the city’s overall quality, livability, and resilience have improved significantly. At the other end of the spectrum, the lower-income segments of the society appear to be missing from the urban planning effort. Some of the urban upgrading interventions might be unintentionally taking away some of the vibrant and diverse aspects of informal street life. This is especially true in some areas, where monotonous and sterile newer environments and streetscapes are replacing the older, informal environments, mostly inhabited by lower-income workers. This paper takes a closer look at some of these older spaces and streetscapes in Abu Dhabi. Through a case study, it attempts to shed some light on some of these vibrant areas, which could potentially vanish soon. It also attempts to highlight the energetic nature of these streetscapes and bring this to the attention of city planners. The paper argues that valuable lessons could be learned from these informal spaces and that these lessons could contribute positively to future planning efforts in the city.

scholarly journals Skateboarding as a tool for reading the city

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Polina Yu. Krutskikh
Keyword(s):  
Urban Youth ◽  
Analytical Approach ◽  
Youth Sports ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Academic Context ◽  
The Common ◽  
The City

Modern urban youth sports cultures are notable for their diverse and complex nature. The question arises as to what analytical approach should be used to study their multifaceted character. Using the St Petersburg skateboard scene as an example, the article shows the advantages in applying the concept of the post-sport cultures to understand how the common functions of urban infrastructure are redefined, what trends exist on the scene, how they shape the meanings attributed to them by the scene participants, and how those signs are read.  The study also employs the solidarity approach to describe the interactions between the scene participants through the ideas and ideological controversies shared by them. The focus of the paper is how to apply solidarity approach to study the nature of urban post-sport cultures based on St Petersburg skateboard scene case study. Given the lack of Russian publications on the topic, the study is also aimed at inscribing the Russian skateboarding experience into the Western academic context.

Bridging the Gap between Expectation and Reality: Urban Planning and the Public Bus System in Abu Dhabi

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-130
Author(s):  
Seunga Iris Ryu
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Transportation ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
Abu Dhabi ◽  
Working Population ◽  
The Public ◽  
City Bus ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City ◽  
Bus System

In urban planning, governments usually hold the decision-making power to shape not only city landscapes but also people's lives with the promoted goals of social welfare. Although states expect their own version of ideal scenarios in mind when carrying out infrastructural developments, after competition, people in reality have their own ways of perceiving and utilizing state-made infrastructures and urban transportation, sometimes in alignment with government plan, and sometimes at odds with it. Abu Dhabi is one of the cities in the world in which the government planned out the whole city and created urban infrastructure from scratch, including the city bus system. Although the Abu Dhabi public buses started operating in 2008, car dependency is still high and many residents consider public buses to be inefficient and time consuming and only used by certain immigrant working population.

Transformative city branding and the evolution of the entrepreneurial city: The case of ‘Brand New Helsinki’

Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (10) ◽  
pp. 2031-2046
Author(s):  
Salla Jokela
Keyword(s):  
Urban Policy ◽  
The Other ◽  
City Branding ◽  
Differentiation Strategy ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Entrepreneurial City ◽  
Scholarly Discussion ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

There have been two types of scholarly discussion on city branding. On the one hand, city branding has been conceptualised as a differentiation strategy of entrepreneurial cities involved in interspatial competition. On the other hand, researchers have recently emphasised the need to pay attention to increasingly pervasive and transformative forms of city branding, including branding as an urban policy and a form of planning. Drawing on a case study carried out in Helsinki, Finland, this article connects these two approaches by analysing Helsinki’s recent city branding endeavour in the context of the qualitative transformation of the entrepreneurial city. The article shows how city branding highlights and constitutes the city as an entrepreneurial platform and enabler bound up by the extended entrepreneurialisation of society.

Lively Infrastructure

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 137-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ash Amin
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Informal Settlements ◽  
Urban Infrastructure ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Social ◽  
Community Solidarity ◽  
Belo Horizonte ◽  
Struggle For Recognition ◽  
The City

This paper examines the social life and sociality of urban infrastructure. Drawing on a case study of land occupations and informal settlements in the city of Belo Horizonte in Brazil, where the staples of life such as water, electricity, shelter and sanitation are co-constructed by the poor, the paper argues that infrastructures – visible and invisible – are deeply implicated in not only the making and unmaking of individual lives, but also in the experience of community, solidarity and struggle for recognition. Infrastructure is proposed as a gathering force and political intermediary of considerable significance in shaping the rights of the poor to the city and their capacity to claim those rights.

Mapping of coastal ecosystems and halophytes (case study of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates)

1998 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 297 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benno Böer ◽  
Derek Gliddon
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Abu Dhabi ◽  
Preliminary Assessment ◽  
Environmental Impact Assessments ◽  
Development Plans ◽  
Seawater Irrigation ◽  
Saline Land ◽  
Special Protection

A survey of the coastal zone of Abu Dhabi identified 22 halophytes of which nine are tolerant to inundation by seawater. A preliminary assessment suggested that 3.550 km2 of saline land with a complete absence of natural vegetation was potentially suitable for the development of sustainable agro-ecosystems with halophyte crops and seawater irrigation. Such development plans, however, require the implementation of environmental impact assessments. The inter-tidal plant communities need special protection, as they are fragile, and economically and ecologically valuable.

scholarly journals Assessment and reform of greywater reuse policies and practice: a case study from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Water Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 376-396
Author(s):  
Abdallah Shanableh ◽  
Mohamad Ali Khalil ◽  
Mohamed Abdallah ◽  
Noora Darwish ◽  
Adel Tayara ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Water Use ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Water Savings ◽  
The City ◽  
New Buildings ◽  
Greywater Reuse ◽  
Wastewater Generation

Abstract This article presents an assessment of one of the earliest greywater reuse (GWR) experiences in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE). In 2003, the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) imposed a compulsory GWR program on various categories of new buildings in the city. However, implementation of the program faced significant resistance and setbacks and remained limited to about 200 buildings, representing less than 2% water savings. In the analysis presented in this study, the need for GWR was assessed through analyzing SEWA's water supply and demand projections, conducting a 12-month water use survey of 285,000 Sharjah residents from about 140 nationalities, and identifying the areas in the city with intense water use. In addition, analysis and reforms of the various aspects of SEWA's GWR reuse policies and practice were presented and discussed. Reforming the policy to increase GWR to about 10% water savings can lead to significant reductions in desalinated water consumption and wastewater generation and consequently significant reductions in desalination cost (35 million USD/y), energy consumption (225,840 MWh/year) and CO2 emissions (120 ton/year). The case study presented in the article can serve as a reference to guide GWR policies and practice, especially for local authorities in developing countries.

Major event and city branding

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi-De Liu
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
City Branding ◽  
Major Event ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Visitor Perceptions ◽  
European Capital Of Culture ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
The City

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the effectiveness of a key branding campaign, based on a case study of Liverpool as the 2008 European Capital of Culture. Branding is a popular practice adopted by many cities in the context of intensified tourism competition. Design/methodology/approach – This study looks at quantitative data collected from an on-street face-to-face survey in 2008. In total, 611 questionnaires were distributed to and collected from local residents, visitors from the immediate hinterland, domestic tourists and overseas visitors. Findings – The analysis is done, first by investigating respondents’ impression on the Liverpool 08 brand and the branding campaign, and then by exploring the effects of the campaign. The positioning of Liverpool compared with other similar cities is addressed in the end. Originality/value – Event marketers need to be aware that visitor perceptions of the event’s branding are unlikely to be homogeneous. This could have significant implications on the design of brand and branding campaign and, then, affect whether the city could be effectively marketed.

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