Weaving community into Dubai’s urban fabric

As a city-state typically associated with luxury living and gleaming high-rises, Dubai is not exactly well known for its community facilities or affordable housing. But the emirate’s plan to create more services and infrastructure around the needs of its residents is under way. The Dubai Municipality is developing a “human-centric” urban masterplan for 2040, which will be designed with residents’ wellbeing in mind. With masterplanning for communities shifting to meet new social and economic objectives, panellists at the Middle East Real Estate Forum debated how to better integrate community amenities to create a more liveable city – and consequently maximise the long-term investment potential of its projects. For Anwaar Al Shimmari, design and chief innovation officer at the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, investment priorities in the UAE have so far been aligned with the aim of boosting the value of its urban neighbourhoods. To set this in context, she defined its urban fabric as a mix of services for the local community – specifically, housing – and facilities serving the international development agenda. These services and facilities are being delivered through several large-scale projects under construction across the emirates that are shaping urban development, especially in Dubai. “When we talk about urban fabric, it’s important to understand who your target segment is for the future, because when you plan for the coming 10 years you are serving different generations and populations,” Al Shimmari said. In her role as chief innovation officer, one of the challenges that Al Shimmari faces is the way the requirements of a neighbourhood are constantly shifting. In particular, the communities that are being served in urban areas are continually changing as advances in infrastructure bed in. Al Shimmari said that previously there had been a focus on the distance between house and mosque, or house and school; nowadays, individuals are more likely to seek out specific school curriculums, regardless of distance. “It is not easy to tailor,” she said. “Everyone has specific needs to fulfil.” When it comes to meeting the needs of different catchments, Al Shimmari credited Norrmalm in Sweden (widely regarded as one of the largest urban regeneration projects in post-second world war Europe) as a source of inspiration. “The investigation and regulation that happened to serve this [regeneration] was immense,” she said, adding that Norrmalm’s infrastructure was upgraded regularly while regulations developed. “Every year I go to Sweden, and I see a change,” said Al Shimmari. “[So] change is a matter of time – do not keep yourself in a constant place, and assume innovation will occur. “It is not about having an end-product that you are happy with. You have to keep changing and developing to ensure that innovation is part of your process.” While she admitted this is much easier said than done, she suggested that working towards a clear end-project, and understanding the potential outcomes on the way to achieving this, will help prevent firms from making the mistake of standing still. Mapping how services could change There has been a noticeable shift towards healthcare and education real estate in recent times. The number of licensed healthcare facilities had grown to 3,100 by April 2018, according to figures from the Dubai Health Authority (up by 3.7% year-on-year since 2014). But the decision makers behind these projects need to dig deeper, according to some experts. The mega-developments in Dubai that focus on commercial product – housing, offices and retail among them – have traditionally garnered much fanfare, but only lip service is given to social aspects such as schooling and healthcare, according to Nasser Massoud, managing director of infrastructure development advisory firm Concept Realisation. Massoud acknowledged that primary healthcare centres have gained more attention in recent times, as they have become the first port of call for addressing healthcare needs. However, he noted that more in-depth focus is needed to determine how these types of services will evolve to cater for a growing and ageing population – a key factor that underpins the sustainability of development schemes. “Creating a community that has space for a hospital is not going to deliver modern healthcare as you need it,” he explained. [caption id="attachment_981980" align="aligncenter" width="847"] Anwaar Al Shimmari[/caption] “It is the same with schools, [and providing] more access to a different range of school years. [It is about] looking at how technology and access to schools can be delivered. “It is one of those areas that really needs much more fundamental thinking, in the way cities and districts get masterplanned, so that they take everything into account.” To take a first step in addressing these issues, the social agenda needs to gain more attention from planners. According to Massoud, this could be improved if it formed the starting point for all plans submitted for approval. “[It should become] a fundamental aspect of how town planning authorities start to approve communities when they are submitted for masterplanning – to look at social infrastructure aspects, as well as physical and transportation infrastructure, in the totality of the development,” he said. Overhauling capital structures to meet social needs Anyone in the industry might be forgiven for thinking it could be a hard sell. In general, developers have not exactly had the best reputation for being community-minded. But, encouragingly, Dunia Joulani, assistant director for travel, hospitality and leisure at Deloitte, observed that attitudes to investment in urban development are starting to shift away from a fixation on profit. “When it comes to urban renewal, the focus has [historically] very much been on profit and returns. But I think we have seen that move and it has become a lot more people-focused,” she said. On a wider scale, the finance and capital markets arena could also have an integral part to play in helping cities meet demand for social structures. Pete Gladwell, head of public sector partnerships at Legal & General Investment Management, noted that much of the capital coming into real estate is derived from the classic, pre-credit crunch model of securitisations and the complex frameworks that accompany it. He argued that cities in the UAE or the UK have a better chance of prospering, however, if much of this pre-crisis structuring is stripped back, therefore allowing more investment to flow into initiatives that can address social needs. “There is a really big opportunity for us as an industry to collaborate to create these [simpler] new structures,” he said. According to Gladwell, L&G is among the long-term, defined-benefit pension investors that are increasingly moving away from buying bonds and lending to companies, and instead are making investments that have a meaningful societal impact. These include its joint venture with Newcastle City Council, which aims to build a mixed-use community that factors in aspects including build-to-rent, later living and office space. Diversifying into investments such as affordable housing or healthcare undoubtedly involves an element of risk, but Gladwell said this could be mitigated through closer collaboration with local authorities. He added: “Real estate has typically attracted just one type of money, and there are huge amounts of money washing around the world’s capital markets that we can harness to make a really positive [impact] as an industry, if we create the right models and collaborate to bring in that capital.” To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette