Michael Schwarz

Faculty member Ajman University of Science and Technology, College of Engineering, Dep. of architectural Engineering (AUST)

Title of presentation :The sustainability of operative, artificial structures - Volume II
 

The conflict between the new built environment and a growing need for ecological, economic and social balance in Dubai and the whole gulf region needs to be addressed. Since Dubai is still caught up in the service society, it is necessary to move towards a Socio- and Humanistic Health-and Nature Society through education and awareness. This happened already in other parts of the world.  Traditional, western, tools of urban planning will not work in Dubai due its artificial and inhomogeneous structure.  The current r ec es s ion is  t he c h anc e  f or c ons ol ida tio n,  the  “ S itu ati on D ub ai” ,  as  the justification for this city, has to be sustained. The gulf region has to move towards a more holistic approach for a sustainable strategic development. The lack of central planning has to be replaced by a comprehensive and integrative planning. 

To address the issue of identity and livability, the future Dubai will be a city, which will be characterized by the protection of natural resources, by the introduction of new building standards and the application of modern technology instead of typical investor-friendly fast and cheap mass production. This will upgrade the quality of the built environment in terms of structure, design and energy consumption. Away from the artificial development of marketing- and product-orientated strategies as a tool of urban planning, towards a contentual involvement of site-specific challenges, which result from natural conditions of the place and the integration into a global context against the background of cultural input. Above the Artificiality and the Spectacular, Dubai must succeed in creating values which can be unique, but which have to have at the same time a resistance against economical influences from outside jeopardizing the independency of this city.  There is a big chance that the term urbanity can newly be defined, if we understand Dubai as the worldwide first globalized city. An identification not with the place itself, but with the sustainability of an event. The discussion based on this scenario could lead to a very interesting conceptual approach in Urban design and architecture.