The Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan maps out a comprehensive plan for a sustainable urban development in Dubai. It focuses on enhancing people’s happiness and quality of life and reinforcing Dubai as a global destination for citizens, residents and visitors over the next 20 years.  

The plan has a strategic structural layout, integrating all urban development master plans in the emirate and aligned it with Dubai’s strategic economic priorities and the needs of the future.

Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan is the seventh development plan 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 while the urban and built area of the emirate increased 170-fold from 3.2 square km.

 Key objectives of Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan

The key objectives of Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan are to:

• upgrade Dubai’s urban areas: Deira and Bur Dubai, Downtown and Business Bay, Dubai Marina and JBR, and two new centres - Expo 2020 Centre and Dubai Silicon Oasis Centre
• improve the efficiency of resource utilisation
• develop vibrant, healthy and inclusive communities and double green and leisure areas to provide a healthy environment to residents and visitors
• provide sustainable and flexible means of mobility
• foster greater economic activity and attract foreign investments to new sectors
• enhance environmental sustainability
• safeguard the emirate’s cultural and urban heritage and strengthen citizens’ attachment to older neighbourhoods
• develop a comprehensive legislation and plan a governance model to support sustainable development and growth.

Outcomes

By 2040, Dubai will have achieved the following:

• green and recreational spaces will double in size
• ·nature reserves and rural natural areas will constitute 60 per cent of the emirate’s total area
• several green corridors will be established to link the service areas, residential areas and workplaces,
• the movement of pedestrians, bicycles, and sustainable mobility means across the city will be facilitated
• land area for hotels and tourist activities will increase by 134 per cent, and for commercial activities, it will increase to 168 square kilometres
• land area for education and health facilities will increase by 25 per cent
• the length of public beaches will increase by 400 per cent.

The Master Plan aims to encourage mass transit use, walking, cycling and the use of flexible means of transportation, besides developing a comprehensive planning database to support decision-making and enhance transparency.

The Dubai Urban Master Plan 2040 integrates the Hatta Development Plan, which provides for the comprehensive development of the area.

The plan also seeks to develop integrated sustainable housing complexes to meet the needs of citizens. Integrated communities will be developed according to the highest planning standards, with green spaces, commercial centres and recreational facilities aimed at enhancing human well-being.

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