Sustainability is based on a triangulated relationship
between three dimensions- economic, social and environmental.
The development community is moving slowly towards
integrating the principles of environmental sustainability; Dubai has witnessed
the increase of platinum LEED rated buildings and an increasing awareness of
the importance of sustainability on a community level. Social sustainability is
still lagging behind ; affordability of housing choices within Dubai is a main
concern with the current rental hikes expected at 30% in 2014 .
Dubai Development industry is complex because the migration
flows feeding its population growth is born out of the job market numbers. Currently
, 277,000 jobs are expected to be created from 2013 -2021 with the spike
expected during the preparation and operation of Dubai expo 2020. In a recent
statement to Zawya.com, Deepak Jain, head of Strategic Consulting, MENA at
Jones Lang LaSalle, states that whilst the current and the mid-term focus is
more on mid- to high-end residential projects, the market fundamentals will
result in developers launching affordable housing projects in the long term. Abu
Dhabi Urban Planning Council had taken a bold step in July 2010 when it
announced that at least 20% of new residential property in the UAE capital
needs to be set aside for affordable housing, with rents for a studio to start
from AED 25,200 per annum. The new rule was applicable to all developments
larger than 75,000 square meters, but the regulations have not been implemented
yet. The Jobs, created mostly by the
construction sector, means that the demand will be around for 200,000 units.
Affordability in Dubai is always a compromise between the
amount of savings that could be sent to the home country and the intended
lifestyle that the migrant would like to invest in. Therefore, I would tackle
housing from the second aspect. How we encourage middle income employers to
invest in buying affordable housing units in Dubai instead of renting? I believe
the answers lie in the lifestyle of the environment he will be living in which
is usually an output of the interaction between the urban design firm, the
architecture team and the developer team.
The first master planned development in Dubai intended for
affordable housing was The Gardens next to Ibn Battuta mall . The Gardens is a
community built in 2000 to provide affordable housing for the employees of
Dubai expanding TECOM free zone. The Community was based on typical horizontal low
rise buildings in an expansive open space network providing parks, children
parks, sports facilities, malls to the residents. Subsequently, schools,
hospitals were added. The affordability of the Gardens was due to the low cost
of land, low cost of infrastructure developments(in 2000 of course).From a
design perspective, the layout of the buildings , the organisation of the
flats, the elevation materials produced a sustainable typology. From a
sustainability perspective, its typology enabled companies to rent out complete
buildings in order to provide housing for their employers. The clustering of
building into a complex of three/buildings gave it a sense of community as
children from the same complex tend to play in the spaces nearby. The layout of
streets between main arterial , maundering collector and cul de sac local roads
made it legible as roads hierarchy corresponded to the spatial configuration of
urban spaces. The most positive aspect of the gardens is its extensive cycling
and pedestrian network connecting the expansive development; the main cycling
path spans kilometres without interruption of vehicular circulation. The sense
of community is further strengthened through the existence of two major parks
that connects the different residential neighborhood.
From an urban scale, Affordability is linked to Density
.However, density here means the intensity of occupants per square foot and
therefore it is about the urban block rather than plot level. Barcelona has achieved
higher densities through the densification of the urban block rather than the
densification of the plot itself. The urban block is completely built around a
courtyard giving the possibility of double decking the circulation corridors .The
densification of the urban block did not prevent Barcelona from heavily
investing in public and open spaces that contributes to the social life of its
residents. Densification of the urban block needs to be coupled with the
provision of recreational facilities, parks, gardens and activation of the
street level spaces through retails, libraries and medical uses in order to maintain
the safety of the development. Motor City Fox hills apartments are a clear example
on how street level activity can be coupled with high densities.
Coming from that dimension, Urban policies need to focus on the
elements that would promote intensification of density through monitoring the number of
units per hectare as an additional measure of the development in the urban
block and link communal facilities such as sports, retail and open spaces with
the population densities .This measure gives a space for the developers and the
designers to experiment with new typologies that would give them the densities required.
We have experimented with this urban measure while I was part of the master
development team in Dubailand, the regional framework plan in Dubai . Linking land pricing, community facilities provision, population densities and units densities has provided a win win situation for both public and private sector.From the current real estate market trends, we have succeeded in bringing dense developments with new typologies that are closing the gaps in affordable housing while maintain the wellbeing of their residents in perspective.
Other measures tested in other markets include up-zoning on commercial development corridors on the basis of provision of affordable housing that could be potentially served in the future by public transportation lines and reliable bus routing system; the up-zoning can be coupled with public private partnerships for roads and infrastructure construction.
