Sheikh Mohammed’s vision of Dubai more than futuristic

The UAE is constantly raising the bar for improving the lives of its residents. It thinks well ahead for their wellbeing and safety, and lays down plans accordingly.

For instance, it has already mapped the components of a comprehensive development plan for the next 50 years. Now, aligned with the UAE’s vision for the next 50 years, the Dubai 2040 Urban Master plan, also launched by Sheikh Mohammed, is focused on enhancing people’s happiness and quality of life.

The people-centric plan focuses on reinforcing Dubai’s competitiveness as a global destination by providing a wide diversity of lifestyle and investment opportunities for citizens, residents and visitors over the next 20 years. Designed to realise His Highness’s vision to make Dubai the city with the world’s best quality of life, the plan aims to provide the highest standards of urban infrastructure and facilities. As Abdullah Al Basti, Secretary-General of The Executive Council of Dubai said: “Dubai’s ambitious vision for development strikes a balance between growth and sustainability as part of efforts to make it an integrated smart city that serves the needs of its people. The Master Plan integrates world-leading smart urban planning standards and design principles to support the ultimate goal of making Dubai a global leader across sectors.”

The visionary development journey started by the late Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum in the sixties continues to guide Dubai’s evolution into a city that promotes the greatest human values and possibilities and an environment where people from around the world can thrive.

The new Master plan is the seventh such plan developed for the emirate since 1960. Between 1960 and 2020, the population of Dubai has multiplied 80 times from 40,000 in 1960 to 3.3 million by the end of 2020 and increased in cultural diversity to include people from over 200 nationalities. The urban and built area of the emirate increased 170-fold from 3.2 square km in the same period.

Recently, over 600 ministers, senior federal and local government officials, secretaries-general of Executive Councils and a group of experts and specialists held in-depth consultations for four days to discuss the path for infrastructure, digital transformation and environmental sustainability.

During the meeting of the “50-year Development Plan Committee,” chaired by Sheikh Mansour and as part of the government retreat to plan for the next 50 years, he said that during the previous 50 years, the UAE Government achieved the leadership’s vision to launch a national workshop to plan the country’s future for the next five decades, underscored by the government’s work and the country’s humanitarian activities in many areas around the globe, despite the significant challenges caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020.

The achievements and outcome of the national working teams preparing for the next 50 years covering seven vital sectors represent the foundation of future planning operations led by the country in all areas, he added.

During the meeting, the committee highlighted the importance of considering the outcome of the work of the national team preparing for the next 50 years in designing the country’s future orientation, through six key pillars covering 50 topics, which include community, education and human capital, economy, infrastructure and environmental sustainability, safety and security, justice and future government.  It all goes to show that Sheikh Mohammed’s vision is more than futuristic. As CNN says, in the space of 50 years, Dubai has grown from a small trading outpost into one of the planet’s most iconic cities.

“Epic skyscrapers like the Burj Khalifa and wildly ambitious developments such as The Palm stand as testament to a city in thrall to the new, the fast-paced and the seemingly impossible.

“With a long Bedouin history and an allure that pulls in newcomers from all over the globe, there is nowhere else quite like it.”