Under the patronage of

H.H. Sheikh Humaid Bin Rashid Al Nuaimi

Member of Supreme Council, Ruler of Ajman

Municipality & Planning Department - Ajman MPDA

Presents

5th Ajman International Urban Planning Conference

21 -25 March 2011

Ajman University, Ajman, UAE

City Identity in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities

The urban growth is described as continuous and natural phenomena. The last decade of the XX century was marked by deep economical and political changes provoking some irreversible transformations in the socio cultural organization and the physical structure of the cities. These changes reflect the interaction of the different aspects on which were worked out the different policies of development and principles of growth and management. These changes have altered the city’s form and have given rise to questions about the impact of these changes on the image of the city in terms of size and cultural values. So the concept of urban space becomes a determinant of the ability of planners, architects, engineers and administrators to provide an environment which is adequately structured to avoid chaos and to maintain an acceptable quality of life.

The orientations and vision of His Highness Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid al-Nuaimi, The Ruler of Emirate of Ajman  is testifying the geniality of the human intervention in controlling the urban growth of Ajman which is marked by an extraordinary changes brought by the urbanization.  These changes have a great impact on the values and particularly on the aesthetics. In parallel with the socio-economic changes, new technologies have been developed or imported mainly in the form of new construction techniques, building materials and the methods of construction management. New structural and environmental control possibilities have been introduced and increased with the designation of  Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi  The Chairman of Municipality and Planning Department  of Ajman..

The development sprawl, the segregation of land uses, and the reliance on the car and the absence of public transport are the main issues illustrating the unbalanced development of Ajman which might have a negative impact in environmental protection, preservation, waste, sewage and sanitation. For these reasons, the Municipality of Ajman will organize its Fifth Ajman International Urban Planning Conference AIUPC. With cooperation with University of Wolverhampton, UK

In this conference will take part many well known planners, architects, engineers and academics; as it will be an opportunity to debate and confront some experiences and theories which should imperatively end up by developing some recommendations specific to the case of Ajman. Up till now, Experts, Pioneers in planning, well known Architects and Engineers from 21 countries have already their participation.

For the Fifth Ajman Urban Planning Conference, all those whom confirmed their participation agreed to take part in the workshops that they will just on the case of Ajman. These workshops will concentrate on the future development of Ajman by looking at the different projects which are under development. The main objectives from these workshops, of two out of four days of the AIUPC, are Ajman’s characteristics of building form and land use. The debate and the workshops should be focalized on the changes of the built environment which should be consistent with the existing environment. That is, new buildings must be seen to fit in with the “normal” environment so that a homogeneous, unambiguous identity is projected. The homogeneity will also provide the sense of temporal order and identity, and which can be maintained if change is orderly and incremental thus maintaining links with the past. with the following areas:

1.  Cultural Activities and their impacts on the urban growth.

2. Urban Aesthetics and Architecture.

3. Space and Ecology.

4. Globalization, Virtualization and Identity.

5. Urban Culture and Urban Codes

6- Urban Management and Infrastructure