Comprehensive long-term planning is needed if the raft of waterfront schemes planned for Dubai is to avoid ending up in disaster, urban development experts warn. Planners also need to take account of climatic change, sustainability and urban infrastructure requirements, they say.
According to Professor Han Meyer, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, the future maintenance of the offshore projects currently under construction off the coast of Dubai could become a severe financial burden. He said at the Waterfront development conference and exhibition held in Dubai last month: “The islands are very much based on the idea that money is no problem at the moment, but suppose the economic situation changes and there is a dip in Dubai’s economy in 30 or 40 years’ time. What will happen to the islands then? That will be a big question and it has not been very well considered until now.â€?
