Closing time

CW Guest Columnist , August 25th, 2010

by Georgina Chakar

I moved to Dubai from Sydney in 2006, a time when this emirate, along with Abu Dhabi, was paving the way towards the golden era of its fastest development ever.

A number of projects were completed while many others were on their way, and while fascinating, these developments posed a number of questions. Were the buildings with such an international appearance designed with local climate conditions in mind? Were the individual projects capable of fitting in to a cohesive final master plan for the city? And was the LEED ranking system appropriate and adequate for this part of the world?

Many of those questions remain unanswered today. The concept of diversity and affordable housing seems to be lost in the mass production of hundreds of archetypal villas and town houses.

The neighborhood centres and walking distances are hardly visible on some developments. And heritage architecture is implemented by mimicking details and not its function. The list goes on.

My thesis sought to address some of these problems, and pose a new city model for the Gulf region alongside the principles of New Urbanism – the movement established by Peter Calthorp, Elizabeth Plater-Zayberk and Andres Duany in 1993. These new cities should include bioclimatic design which integrates the environment and natural resources, as well as alternative sources of energy, but they should also include the public realm too.

Much of social life in the emirates revolves around shopping malls based on the concept established in 1952 by the American architect Victor Gruen. They are air-conditioned, fully enclosed buildings that have become the social environment replacing the natural city.

There is no doubt that such facilities are useful, but they are not conducive to the establishment of green cities, and they do little for the public realm. Do we want to raise future generations for whom the components of a mall is the image of a city? We must not forget that sustainable urban environments are derived from a balance between social, ecological and economic components - this is more than malls alone can offer.

There are areas where Dubai has achieved the principles of new urbanism, particularly in regard to Madinat, DIFC and Dubai Mall, while Jumeirah Village is the first housing development in the Middle East to be built along New Urbanist principles. Projects like these show that far from doing away with the traditional mall, a futuristic model of pedestrian streets – as well as the desire to use shopping malls as specific city structures – would make these shopping centres transparent and fully integrated with the rest of the city functions.

Finally, I call for a moratorium to the Gruen model of a shopping mall. This outdated concept keeps our young generations imprisoned and destroys their image and enjoyment of a natural city environment.

Georgina Chakar is an Australian architect living in Dubai. She recently graduated as a Master of Urban Planning.