Analyzing Business Bay as a New Compact City Model in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The sustainability has been accepted as an important concept of development in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. However, the necessity and justification for sustainable development are being discussed, the specific methodology is still at an abstract stage. The objective of this paper was to explore the concept of a compact city as a city with a net density of about 500 people/ha and to which planning elements in terms of environmental sustainability were applied. As a methodology, Business Bay’s characteristics as a compact city and the urban form are analyzed via literature review and status surveys. The result had shown that in terms of land use, Business Bay was applied with the planning elements of a compact city and was a pedestrian-oriented city. A pedestrian-centered living environment was created, and the most common approach to the center was by walking. despite the small number of green spaces and open spaces in Business Bay, the surrounding natural environment including Dubai Water Canal is preserved through compact development. It was statistically proven that the development was made without the concept of sustainable development, the compactness of density was achieved, but the environmental and ecological considerations in the city were insignificant. As the scope of this study was limited to the physical aspect, the focus of this paper is to examine the possibility of a high-density city as a sustainable urban model. There is a limit in not dealing with the verification of social sustainability, economic sustainability, and cultural sustainability of Business Bay.